Odisha: Action Plan For 9 AMRUT Cities gets In-principle approval

The State Annual Action Plan (SAAP) of 2016-17 for 9 AMRUT cities comprising of 143 projects involving the investment of Rs 537 cr got in-principle approval of State High Powered Steering Committee (SHPSC) meeting held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Sri Aditya Prasad Padhi today in secretariat conference hall yesterday.

Taking stock of the preparedness for implementation of the projects, Chief Secretary asked the department to expedite the utilization of the funds and avail the incentive grant. Secretary H&UD Sri G. Mathivathanan said that incentive up to 10% of the total project value would be available for progress of the projects as per the mile stones set in it.

Chief Secretary Sri Padhi further advised the department to conduct energy and water audit in all the AMRUT cities. Special Secretary H&UD-cum Secretary Odisha Urban Infrastructure Development Fund ( OUIDF) Sri Sisir Kumar Rath presented the projects and outlined the issues for discussion.

It may be pertinent here to mention that these 143 projects for the Mission cities of Odisha under AMRUT were worked out through a long course of consultation and consensus from city to State level in four phases including consultation meetings with concerned MPs, MLAs, Mayors and Chairpersons.

The projects will be submitted to Govt for onward transmission to Government of India. Special Secretary Sri Rath said that the funding pattern of the project would be on 50:50 cost sharing basis between Central and State Govt.

Besides, the State or concerned ULB would make appropriate cost recovery mechanism for operation and management of the projects. The approved projects include 91 water supply projects of worth Rs487 cr, 4 sewerage & septage management projects of worth Rs.20.55 cr and 48 other projects including parks of worth Rs.22.85 cr.

These projects would be implemented in the cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Balasore, Bhadrak and Baripada. In the meanwhile, ULBs and public health engineers have been trained and the capacity building at ULB level has already been taken up for expeditious implementation of the projects.

So far, 239 engineers, town planners and executive officers have been trained. Exposure visits have been organized for 33 elected representatives form AMRUT towns. Training for additional 270 officials and exposure visit for 60 elected representatives have been planned for this year.

AMRUT accounting procedure has also been approved by AG Odisha. With all these, 9 AMRUT cities of the State now all set for speedy implementation of the projects, said a senior officer of the department. The Director Urban, Ministry of Urban Development, Govt of India present in the meeting, said that Odisha has been a leading State in implementation of the Mission projects.

Principal Secretary Forest & Environment, Sri Suresh Chandra Mohapatra along with senior officers from concerned departments participated in discussions.