First installment of Rs 200 cr each awaited from GoI
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 17: The work on Jammu and Srinagar Smart Cities’ Projects is unlikely to begin during the current year as neither the Union Government has so far released first installment of Rs 200 crore each nor the Board of Directors (BoDs) of Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited have prioritized the activities to be considered under Phase-I.
The development of capital cities of Jammu and Kashmir under Smart City Mission was sanctioned by the Union Ministry of Urban Development vide Communication No.K-15016/157/2015-SC-1 dated June 28, 2017.
The State Government vide Order No.1081-GAD dated August 21, 2017 constituted Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) as Companies Limited by shares named as Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited under the Companies Act, 2013 with authorized share capital of Rs 10 lakh, equity share of Rs 10 each and paid up capital of Rs 10 lakh for both the companies for implementation of smart city development projects.
Thereafter, the Board of Directors of both the companies met under the chairmanship of Commissioner/Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development Department and both the BoDs decided to make a request to the Government of India for release of first installment of Rs 200 crore each for Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
In the meeting, it was also decided that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited will immediately prioritize the works to be taken up under the first installment of Rs 200 crore for which formal request letter was also submitted to the Union Ministry of Urban Development.
However, funds from the Government of India have yet not been received. “We are awaiting first installment from the Government of India”, official sources said, adding both the companies have opened accounts for directly getting the funds from the Union Ministry of Urban Development.
Even the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited have yet not prioritized the works which would be taken up under the Phase-I, sources disclosed, adding “the delay in this regard is notwithstanding the fact that in the Board of Directors meeting the CEOs were explicitly told to identify those works for Phase-I which can be completed within shortest possible time. The reason behind these directives was to ensure early release of second installment following submission of Utilization Certificates”.
Stating that there was no possibility of work on Jammu, Srinagar Smart Cities’ Projects beginning by end of current year, sources said, “the J&K Government is expecting release of first installment from the Government of India by middle of November and thereafter the tenders will be floated for award of the identified works and this process is unlikely to be completed before December ending”.
It is pertinent to mention here that for Jammu Smart City Limited the Chief Executive Officer is Commissioner of Jammu Municipal Corporation while as for Srinagar Smart City Limited, the CEO is Farooq Ahmed Lone.
The Jammu Smart City project would cost Rs 3600 crore including Rs 1600 crore under convergence and Rs 1000 crore under Public Private Partnership (PPP).
When contacted, Commissioner/ Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development Department Hirdesh Kumar Singh confirmed that first installment of Rs 200 crore each was awaited from Government of India, adding “hopefully we will get the money during next month”.
“The CEO of Srinagar Smart City Limited is on the job to prioritize the works to be taken up under Phase-I while as new CEO of Jammu Smart City Limited was appointed today itself and he will be asked to complete identification of works as expeditiously as possible”, he added.
In response to a question, he said, “hopefully we will be able to start work on some projects in January-February next year”. He admitted that identification of works prior to release of first installment by the Government of India is imperative for timely start of execution.
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