Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today underlined the need for sticking to completion deadlines in case of mega projects as these involve multi lateral funding and are meant for very large chunks of population. She suggested encouraging the agencies which complete such projects in time.
Chairing the Board of Directors meeting of Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) here today, the Chief Minister asked the executives of ERA to chase the project completion with all seriousness and discourage the contractors who do not follow a strict schedule.Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh; Minister for Public Works, Naeem Akhtar; Minister for Education, Syed Altaf Bukhari; Minister of State for Forests, Mir Zahoor Ahmad; legislators, Rajesh Gupta and Agha Baqir Rizvi were present in the meeting.For future, the Chief Minister advised the officials of ERA to identify projects in drinking water augmentation, drainage, solid waste management and other such sectors with which the needs of a majority of population are linked.The meeting was given a brief about the projects already executed in the State by the Agency. Among those include Achan landfill site where the third cell has also been made operational and the entire patch of land has been fenced, multilevel parking slots at Lal Chowk in Srinagar and City Chowk in Jammu and other such projects.
The meeting was informed that Rs. 43 crore Doodhganga water supply distribution system is almost complete and likely to be commissioned before the autumn. Also the Rs. 56 crore Rawalpora-Chanapora drainage project is almost ready for commissioning and work on all pumping stations of the project stands completed.The meeting was also informed that more than 500 kilometres of road widening besides completion of 30 bridges has been executed by the Agency in the State. Also more than 400 kilometres of drinking water distribution network has been laid by the Agency across the State besides commissioning of 53 reservoirs, 32 tube wells and five water treatment plants.Rs. 25 crore worth machinery has been replaced at various water supply schemes of the State by the Agency whileas Rs. 14 crore worth equipment for Solid Waste management has been handed over to municipal authorities, the meeting was informed.Among the major infrastructure projects under execution by the Agency include Rambagh flyover and TRC Grade Separator in Srinagar, a mega drainage project for Jammu city besides a Rs. 34 crore Sewerage Treatment Plant at Bhagwati Nagar.The Chief Minister impressed upon the executing agencies to pace up the work on these projects. The meeting was also informed about the proposed third tranche of the ADB loan, the process for which has just begun. Also present in the meeting were Chief Secretary, B. B. Vyas; Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Rohit Kansal; Commissioner Secretary, Public Works, Sanjeev Verma; Commissioner Secretary, PHE, Saurabh Bhagat and other senior officers.