Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman said an agency has been appointed to carry out pre-investment work for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Madurai. The preparatory survey work by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is expected to be completed by the first week of January.
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In reply to a question raised by S. Senthilkumar, Member of Parliament, Dharmapuri on the status of AIIMS, Madurai in Parliament last week, she said that the Union Cabinet had approved of the establishment of AIIMS in Madurai at a cost of ₹1,264 crore in December 2018.
“The Ministry has appointed HITES as the agency to carry out the pre-investment work, and the work is going on. The project has been approved and taken under the rolling plan by the Department of Economic Affairs for external development assistance under JICA,” she said.
“An amount of ₹5 crore has been transferred by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to AIIMS Madurai for construction of boundary wall. The preparatory survey work by JICA is expected to be completed by the first week of January 2020,” she said.
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Dr. Senthilkumar said that the Centre had announced the establishment of AIIMS in December 2018, following which the Prime Minister had laid the foundation stone in January 2019. However, he said no progress was made and asked when the amount would be released for the project to take off.