After around two years and spending nearly ₹100 crore, Coimbatore is yet to experience the impact of Smart Cities Mission, a flagship scheme that the Central Government funds.
Coimbatore Smart City Limited (CSCL), the company that implements the Mission programmes on behalf of the Coimbatore Corporation, disclosed in its annual financial statement that it has spent nearly ₹100 crore on the mission projects. The CSCL Board recently approved of the financial statement.
In the coming months CSCL will spend another ₹120 crore and ask for a like sum from the Central Government for taking up schemes it has proposed to implement.
But this is not reflected on the ground, say activists. “What the Corporation or the CSCL is doing under Smart Cities Mission is not known to most city’s residents, as there is lack of transparency, which is against the Central Government’s push for openness,” says K. Kathirmathiyon, Secretary, Coimbatore Consumer Cause.
The corporation should list out the schemes it has taken up; say how much it has spent sofar, project-wise, the starting and ending date of each of the projects and also the executing contractor’s details.
Sources in the CSCL say that of the about ₹100 crore spent, a substantial sum – of about ₹70 crore – was towards the execution of the 24x7 drinking water supply project by way of payment to the contractor, Suez India Private Limited. The next big spend was for the Housing for All scheme by way of payment towards the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, which is executing the project.
Other expenditures include ₹11 crore for the two solar power plants of 1 MW each, ₹1 crore for installation of automated water meter readers in a ward, a model solar tree at the corporation main office in Town Hall and ₹10 lakh for installation of 30 air quality monitoring devices.
Lake development
They also say that the corporation will spend over ₹200 crore in the next few months towards the lake development project, a substantial sum towards model road project on D.B. Road and Race Course Ring Road.
It will also require money for executing the lake clean-up project – for four of the eight lakes under the lake development project, multi-level car parking and another solar power plant of 10 MW.
For a few of the aforementioned projects, the CSCL has issued work orders worth over ₹120 crore. This leaves the corporation with very little money and therefore, it has asked the Central Government for transfer of the balance amount, they add.
Mr. Kathirmathiyon says that the corporation seems to be focussing more on ornamental works and not infrastructure creation. With the money the Central and State governments are pumping, the corporation could have built at least a few flyovers or roads to ease traffic as they will have a lasting impact. The ornamental works will do little to improve the quality of the people’s lives, he adds.
