Punjab slow in executing JNNURM projects

CHANDIGARH: Ambitious projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) are moving at a snail's pace in Amritsar and Ludhiana, while in small and medium towns these are yet to take off, though the detailed project reports (DPRs) have already been approved by the Union government.
In fact, work has not started at all but for on two projects in Amritsar.The first major elevated road project (ERP) under JNNURM in Amrisar, costing Rs 150 crore, was expected to be complete by now, but by governments's own admission only 42% of the work has been completed. Officials claim the project would be complete by this year end, but the ground realities suggest that it would take more than one year for completion.
The other major project worth Rs 239 crore, of water supply and sewerage, for which the DPR had been approved , the Punjab government decided to execute only the Rs 19-crore water supply project while the sewerage component was abandoned, which would now be executed with help from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) as the state government and local administration was finding it difficult to contribute their share of 20% and 30% respectively.
In Ludhiana too the approved slum development project of Rs 66.64 crore is yet to take off as only last month the foundation stone was laid in one cluster. Also, work on another ambitious Rs 241-crore sewerage project, for which GOI has released first instalment of Rs 31.17 crore, is yet to begin.
In case of Mohali (SAS Nagar ), the draft for CDP of Rs 864 crore, under which Kurali, Kharar, Banur, Derabassi and Nayagaon are to be covered, is ready but yet to be finalised. And no project has been approved for the city.
Besides, one slum development project of Rs 42.40 crore for 22 slums in Jalandhar has been sanctioned under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) and GOI has released Rs 3.58 crore for it, but again there has been no progress.
Under the Urban Infrastructure and Development Schemes for Small and Medium Towns (UISSSMT), a component of JNNURM, which subsumed the Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT) projects for water supply and sewerage worth Rs 190 crore in halfa-dozen cities of Punjab have been approved, and the Central government has already released Rs 75.87 crore for this.
Work on these projects is expected to pick up fast as the state government and local bodies are only to contribute just 20% share in these projects compared to 50% for projects in two mission cities of Amrisar and Ludhiana. But the state government is yet to release its share for these projects as well.
Explaining the delay, secretary , local government, DS Bains said the DPRs for these projects were undertaken only after the new SAD-BJP government took over in March 2007, though the JNNURM programme started way back in 2005.