The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development has suggested to the Centre to ease approval norms for projects implemented under the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT.
Based on interactions with officials of local bodies of cities that were selected for implementation of various projects and the Department of Municipal Administration, the committee was of the opinion that the Centre would have to ease a few norms, such as considering project utilisation certificates for further fund release, a few of the Committee members told The Hindu .
The 13-member committee headed by Pinaki Misra, chairperson and Biju Janata Dal MP, visited various cities and towns in the State. Around 10 days ago, it conducted a meeting in Udhagamandalam to review the project funded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under the Smart Cities Mission and AMRTU in the State.
The members, on condition of anonymity, said the State government had told the committee that for mega projects taken up under the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), the beneficiary local bodies were forced to obtain clearances at each stage – clearance of detailed project report, tender bid document, release of tender notice, evaluation of technical bids, price bids, etc., leading to “considerable time delay”.
The State had suggested consideration of project-specific utilisation certificates for release of funds, instead of over-all fund utilisation to expedite project execution.
This was true of the mega projects, involving multilateral funding agencies, where the local bodies should abide by certain statutory norms in the pre-tender, tender and post-tender process. They also had to obtain initial environmental examination reports and resettlement plans for compliance, which also caused the delay.
The committee found merit in the State government's argument and would urge the Centre to look into the issue, the members said.
Likewise, it would urge the Centre to incrementally increase its grant for the ‘Affordable Housing in Partnership’ and ‘Beneficiary-led Construction’ verticals of the Housing for All scheme, the members said and explained that it agreed with the view that an increase should be made considering the escalation in prices of raw materials used for construction.
The committee would also suggest to the Centre to explore the possibility of release of lands in its possession to take up ‘Housing for All’ projects as finding lands in urban pockets was becoming difficult.
The members added that the suggestions would form part of the report the committee would table in Parliament in the ensuing Monsoon Session.
