The much hyped Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) is all set to hit Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) whose finances are already in red. The Corporation may have to repay Rs.43 crore to the Centre for its apparent failure in implementing the project.
The Centre has asked the Corporation to “return the funds” released under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) programme for the BRTS project. The officials now have kept fingers crossed over the directive to close the project once and for all by repaying the funds, said a senior official.
The VMC authorities appraised the reasons for the delay in executing the project to the Centre. The State government is also said to have responded positively to the VMC’ explanation and wrote a letter to the Centre saying it was not a ‘wasteful expenditure and the project would be successful in ‘the long run.’ The Centre, however, hasn’t responded so far, say officials.
The Corporation initially estimated that the project would cost Rs. 152.64 crore. The VMC, however, revised its Detailed Project Report (DPR) and put the total cost at Rs. 98.9 crore. The civic body, so far, has spent Rs. 89 crore on the project. According to the JNNURM guidelines, the Centre and State would shoulder 50 and 20 per cent of the total cost of the project. Subsequently, the Centre and State has to release Rs. 69 crore.
However, the Centre has released Rs. 43 crore, while the State government released Rs. 16.8 crore, taking the total releases to Rs. 60 crore. More so, the BRTS project was sanctioned with a rider that 10 per cent of the Central government and 4 percent of State government’s share would be treated as loan component. Except for construction of a 4-km road near Satyanarayanapuram and couple of bridges, the VMC could not ground the project as envisaged.
