After two years of the launch of flagship project of urban transformation, the ministry of urban affairs has planned to appoint an external monitoring agency to keep track on the progress of the project. Officials said that the objective is regular monitoring of the delayed projects of urban transformation in cities so that they could be completed on time.
With a view to extend the urban infrastructure development support to the local bodies, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) mission was launched on 25th June 2015 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and it is being rolled out in 500 Cities geographically spread across the Country.
Even as the Centre has approved plans worth Rs 77,640 crore in last two years under the AMRUT scheme, on ground implementation has delayed in most of the states due to lack of proper planning. A senior official of the ministry said that the external monitoring agency will identify the constraints and issues in the project implementation and enable a corrective action if necessary. “The State Mission Director will have to submit the action taken on the monitoring agency’s report at the time of claiming funds in the AMRUT,” added the official.
The agency will make periodic site visits drawing up the reports and discussing the same with the project management team and forward the report to the concerned project executing agency.
The agency will also conduct a review of the project through the course of its construction to monitor physical progress, financial progress, commercial performance, project quality, compliance to statutes and other requirements. Moreover, it will also monitor the preparatory activities that go into a project prior to beginning actual procurement and construction.
“The agency will review the physical performance accomplished in the project with respect to the milestones projected in the project implementation plan finalized at pre-construction stage. It will also report on abnormal delays in project activities and advice on remedial measures apart from constantly updating on quality assurance systems and project quality,” added the officer.
The bedrock of the AMRUT Mission is the development of core infrastructure with the objective of the achieving improvement in the delivery of services and implementation of reforms. The urban local bodies should move step-by-step to improve their Service Level Benchmarks (SLBs), The approach is that while focusing on investments in urban infrastructure, we should aim to make local bodies more accountable, increase available resources, improve service delivery and empower them and citizens through reforms, added the official.
Main Focus areas under AMRUT