PUDUCHERRY: The Chief Minister N Rangasamy has advised the authorities to initiate the process of implementation of the Smart city project in Puducherry to an extent of Rs 1000 crores as the deadline for Smart city projects draws to a close by March 31 .
Puducherry was selected for development as a Smart City in Round-3 in June 2017. The total proposed cost of Puducherry Smart City is Rs 1827.82 crore, of which Rs 1633.64 crore proposed for Area Based Development (ABD) focusing Retrofitting and Redevelopment approach and Rs 194.19 crore worth of Pan City Solutions.
However after five years , only eight minor projects at an outlay of Rs 2.21crores have been completed. At present 36 works at an outlay of Rs 124.39 crores is under progress and work order issued , while Rs 136.58 crores of work has been deposited with Public Sector undertaking for execution of the work, official sources said.
With just a week to go before the year draws to a close, the government is now attempting to initiate utilisation of Rs 606.22 crores for 19 projects . Puducherry government will deposit the works with Public sector undertakings of Government of India and Puducherry government for execution of the work. This way the Smart city projects can be best utilised , without losing out , said the government source .
Meanwhile Puducherry government is seeking extension of the Smart city project by another one or two years in a similar way to other states .
A review meeting was held on Tuesday evening at the Puducherry Legislative Assembly office under the chairmanship of Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on the Smart city project wherein these decisions were taken..Minister of Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan, Secretary of Smart City project T. Arun, District Collector E. Vallavan and other officials were present.