JNNURM racing against deadline?

Only 8 of the 22 works sanctioned have been completed

The deadline for the JNNURM Phase-I was twice postponed. As the current deadline of March 2014 zooms in on the projects that have been sanctioned, reports with the JNNURM officials suggest that only 8 of the 22 projects, sanctioned under UIG

sub-mission of JNNURM, have been completed. While the top brass has expressed confidence of meeting the deadline, sources say that not all projects would see the light of day. The catch here is that the projects for Phase-II would become ineligible if they don’t meet the deadline. It would be interesting to see how things pan out.

The deadline of March 2014 for the projects sanctioned under the prestigious JNNURM scheme is closing in. Questions are abuzz whether the projects would be completed on time. For all those who swear by the cliché presumption that government projects’ deadline would be extended if they don’t stick to the timeframe, here’s the bad news. The existing projects will not be eligible under Phase-II, if the deadline goes for a toss.

The prestigious JNNURM scheme launched on December 3, 2005, is a massive city modernisation scheme. It was launched for a seven-year period (up to March 2012) to encourage cities to initiate steps for introducing phased improvements in their civic service levels. The government has extended the tenure of the mission for two years, i.e., from April 2012 to March 31, 2014. Under the scheme, Greater Hyderabad got 22 projects under Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) sub-mission. These projects include various works like remodelling of storm water drainage system, construction of water channels and flyovers, drinking water pipeline works, road widening works, strengthening of drainage and building underground drainage systems. Long pending projects like Musi Beatification and Charminar Pedestrian Project were green lighted under this scheme.

While this might sound all flashy, the real picture is that out of 22 projects, only eight projects have been completed so far and others are under various degrees of completion. Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board got 11 projects worth Rs 2002.80 crore under the scheme, of which five have been completed. The projects completed by them are Krishna Phase-II with Rs 606.50 crore, pipeline from Saheb Sagar to Prasashan Nagar with Rs 94.93 crore, integrating Krishna Water supply with Secunderabad for Rs 81.20 crore and south of Musi works with Rs 33.55 crore.

In the Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) submitted to the Project Director of JNNURM, the water board authorities expressed confidence of the works being completed by December. But sources at the water board said that it would not be possible -- something which also the project implementation status data suggests.

Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on September 2 called upon all the implementing authorities of JNNURM projects to complete the projects within the deadline. Of the 14 ongoing projects, about 90 per cent of works have been completed for four projects. Sources say that at least five projects will not be able to meet the deadline.

Few say that some projects were green lighted late in 2009 and early 2010 and they got technical and administrative approval only by late 2010 and early 2011. They lament that projects of that magnitude would be impossible to complete within the time period of less than three years.

Satyanarayana, project director, said, “Almost 90 per cent of the works undertaken by the water board have been completed.

This year the works were on a slow place as there was crunch of funds. We are confident of completing most works by December 2013 and there will only be two works, remodelling of storm water drainage works at Serilingampally and pipeline works at Rajendra Nagar, which we will complete by March 2014.”