Infrastructure projects cleared by Central Government
205 infrastructure projects cleared by Central Government.These projects involve a total cost of Rs.17,000 crore The Union Ministry of Urban Development has cleared 205 infrastructure projects proposed by the cities that have been chosen for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, Secretary in the Ministry M. Ramachandran told reporters here on 02.04.2007.These projects involved a total cost of Rs.17,000 crore and aimed at providing core municipal services such as water, drainage and waste management and also major infrastructure facilities.
Agreement
After a southern regional meet to take stock of the progress made by cities in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Puducherry,Mr. Ramachandran said `good progress' had been made by 63 cities chosen for the mission. These included Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai in Tamil Nadu.All these cities had submitted a City Development Plan and 49 of them had even signed memoranda of agreement (along with the State Governments) with the ministry. And, 19 States and one Union Territory had submitted detailed project reports. The others were in the process of finalising the reports.The 205 projects that had been approved would get a Central Government grant of Rs. 8,300 crore. The Government had already released Rs.1,200 crore as first instalment. This included Rs.88 crore for Tamil Nadu.
The 16 projects cleared for the three cities in the State were at a total outlay of Rs.1,220 crore.For these projects alone, the total Central Government grant was Rs.521 crore. Of the approved projects across the country, 64 pertained to water supply, 34 to sewerage, 39 for roads and flyovers and 20 for solid waste management."We found at the meeting some good examples (projects) prepared by the urban local bodies for improving services and infrastructure," the Secretary said. A meeting of all State Secretaries of urban development would be held at Kochi on April 14 to further review the progress made by the mission cities.
Implementation
"We have five more years of the seven-year implementation period left to implement all the schemes," he said. The mission was launched on December 3, 2005. "The City Development Plan is a living document. Suggestions made by the citizens can still be incorporated," he said. Ministry Joint Secretary and Mission Director M. Rajamani said immense emphasis was being laid on improving the credit rating of the local bodies.A good credit rating was vital to obtaining loans. Lending agencies would have faith in the local bodies only if the latter demonstrated the ability to raise financial resources to repay loans. The rating would help know each local body's financial strengths and weaknesses. It would help devise ways to remove the weaknesses so that they could access market fund, Mr. Rajamani said. Mr. Ramachandran said the ministry had proposed that the Central Government double its grant for urban transport studies. It was 40 per cent now. If raised to 80 per cent, it would benefit the local bodies as they would have to spend only 20 per cent.
Water supply
State Municipal Administration and Water Supply Secretary K. Dheenabandhu, Chennai Metrowater Managing Director Shivdas Meena, Coimbatore Mayor R. Venkatachalam and Corporation Commissioners Rajesh Lakhani (Chennai), P. Muthuveeran (Coimbatore) and D.J. Dhinakkaren (Madurai) were among the officials who took part in the meeting.
