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Centre grants Rs 1248 Cr to J&K for roads, bridges under PMGSY
KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 7/21/2012 12:57:19 AM
`J&K must complete mapping of habitations before first installment’
NEW DELHI, Jul 20: The Union Ministry of Rural Development today accorded conditional clearance to the proposals of Jammu and Kashmir government pertaining to 484 road works and 50 bridges under PMGSY with the total length of about 2651 kms valued at Rs 1248.51 Cr
Sanction is also laced with a number of directions for the state government.
The Union Ministry has accorded clearance for the proposals with the condition that the mapping of habitations in proposal module, as per the final road list, must be completed by the state before seeking release of first installment of Phase-VIII.
The clearance letter was sent to the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by the Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh today.
The grants for proposals pertaining to road connectivity under Phase-VIII New Connectivity (State-I & II) under Bharat Nirman, Normal PMGSY and Long Span Bridges so approved included Rs. 310.37 Crore under Bharat Nirman Stage-I, Rs 851.92 Crore under PMGSY Stage-II, Rs 21.02 Crore under Normal PMGSY 250+ Stage-I (for border blocks), Rs. 55.39 Crores for Long Span Bridges and Rs 9.45 Crore under R&B Stage-II.
This would enable the State to initiate 484 road works and construction of 50 bridges involving total road length of 2651.23 kilometers. It will help to cover 10 habitations of 1000+ population each, 63 habitations of 500+ population each and 42 habitations of 250+ population each.
So far the performance report of the state vis-à-vis PMGSY projects implementation has not been satisfactory.
These proposals were considered by the Empowered Committee in its meeting held on January 20, 2012. On the basis of the recommendations of the Empowered Committee and scrutiny of the compliance report sent by the State, the sanction to the proposals was accorded.
The clearance has been given within an implementation framework that would facilitate timely and effective project execution. As per this framework, the State has been advised to tender the sanctioned projects in two suitable batches based on available contracts capacity and sufficient competition. The works pertaining to the Project Implementing Units (PIUs) having adequate implementing capacity can be tendered in the first batch.
Besides the State will send month wise plan for completion of the pending works pertaining to Ph-II to Ph-VII by July 31, 2012. The second batch of works will be tendered after at least 80 percent completion of the pending works pertaining to Ph-II to Ph-V.
Release of first installment is based on uploading of State Quality Monitor (SQM) reports on the OMMAS, adequate maintenance expenditure as per contracts, certification of accounts based on Online Managing, Monitoring and Accounting System (OMMAS) output for relevant year (2010-11/2011-12) and establishment of field laboratories before the commencement of works.
Yet another direction for the state government is that it will intimate the packages to be tendered in the first batch and make entries on OMMAS accordingly before proceeding with the tendering process.
The Empowered Committee had also observed that the State government should reconcile the difference between figures of OMMAS and MPRs.
“The State should ensure that the OMMAS data must be updated immediately since it is linked with release of funds to the State. ATR on accounting and financial management issues raised in the meeting of EC should be furnished at the earliest. The State needs to submit the soft copies of the maps and data to NRRDA for record, to verify the compatibility of the proposals in future phases. Citizen Information Boards should be displayed in the local language in the prominent locations of the target habitations,” further observed the Committee.
Expressing his gratitude to the Union leadership particularly Union Minister for Rural Development for the assistance to the State, the Chief Minister said that it would help in a big way to open up far-flung and remote areas for economic betterment and welfare of the people.