Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 22: Minister for Law, Justice, Parliamentary Affairs, Relief and Rehabilitation, Syed Basharat Bukhari said that the process for implementation of World Bank funded $250 million flood management, protection and reconstruction plan for Jhelum and Tawi rivers in Jammu and Kashmir has been set into motion and steps in the right direction would be taken for the purpose.
The Minister stated this while chairing a high level meeting with the World Bank Mission headed by Sr. DRM Specialist , Task team Leader Saurabh Dani. The team is on a three day visit to the State with regard to the implementation of the flood management and protection plan for the State.
Commissioner Secretary Relief & Rehabilitation, Dheeraj Gupta, Law Secretary, Muhammad Ashraf Mir besides other senior officers were also present in the meeting.
In the meeting detailed discussions were held with regard to the project implementation and institutional arrangements. The World Bank team was informed that a Project Management Unit (PMU) that has been established within Relief & Rehabilitation Department would be responsible for overall project management and coordination.
In the meeting timelines for completion of various project modalities were also discussed including identification of various project works and tendering process.
The Minister assured the team that the funds being provided by the World Bank would be utilized in accordance to the guidelines and every step would be taken to ensure that the works are completed within the stipulated time. He stressed the concerned authorities to ensure that the directions for the purpose are fully adhered to and bottlenecks if any are removed without any delay.
Meanwhile, World Bank Mission met the Chief Secretary, Iqbal Khandey and briefed him about the implementation of the Disaster Response and Resilience Project approved by the World Bank Board for J&K.
“We are in the implementation phase now and it is expected that by March-2016 we are ready for mobilization of the works”, Dani said, adding that lot of work needs to be done in terms of prioritizing and designing of the works, bidding process and clearances for which timelines have to be fixed in consultation with the line departments to take the recovery project forward.
He said as part of the project we are also looking at preventing the same kind of infrastructural damage in future, adding that since the State falls in seismic zone 5, structural stability would also be given thrust in the reconstruction process.
Dani said that as part of the project we will also fully support the endeavor of the State Government to have a fully operational SDMA in place that is dedicated to Disaster Management throughout the year.
“A 3-tier structure has been framed comprising a Steering Committee headed by Chief Secretary for overall monitoring of the recovery project, a Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) for monitoring and managing and Project Implementation Units (PIUs) in the departments which will carry out the works on the ground”, Commissioner Secretary, Relief & Rehabilitation and CEO, PMU of the World Bank Project”, Dheeraj Gupta said in the meeting.
The Chief Secretary asked for close coordination between the line departments and the World Bank Mission on J&K.
The World Bank team will be visiting the State again in September to take the Action Plan forward.
The meeting was also attended by Financial Commissioner I&C, Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, Commissioner Secretary, H&UD, Bipul Pathak, Commissioner Secretary Finance, N K Choudhary, Commissioner Secretary R&B, Rohit Kansal, Commissioner Secretary, TE and YSS, Hirdesh Kumar, Commissioner Secretary, Higher Education, Sarita Chauhan and other officers.
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