Two key water supply projects under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme had been taken up with one each in Korba at Rs 145 crore and at Bhilai involving a cost Rs104 crores in Chhattisgarh, the Central Government has informed.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh government will get a Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared for implemention of AMRUT project in the State.
The Central Government had recently sanctioned proposals worth Rs 2200 crore for drinking water facility, sewerage, afforestation and children's parks. The civic authorities had completed 24 of the 28 projects in the urban limits. The project covers Digital India programme also, officials informed.
The municipal authorities had collected 90 per cent of the water cess which is a record in itself. It may be mentioned here that Chhattisgarh State had bagged several national awards in the year 2016, they informed.
Notably, as many as 27 water supply projects to be taken up across Chhattisgarh under Centre’s AMRUT project would involve an expenditure of 440.95 crore during the current financial year.
The Centre’s funding component in the project would be Rs212.13 crore while Chhattisgarh would contribute Rs 137.08 crore with Urban local Bodies (UlBs) share being Rs 91.38 crore, offcials stated.
Overall the Mission Thrust areas under AMRUT Project would be — Water supply, Sewerage and Septage Management, Storm Water Drain, Pedestrian, Non Motorised and Public Transport Facilities, Parking Space, Green Spaces, Park and Recreation centres.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh government has approved Rs 13 crore for 89 developmental works to be undertaken by Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC).
Notably, a sum of Rs 10 crore has been approved by the State Government for various wards of RMC including drain construction, road widening, electrification and pipeline extension, according to an official press release
Besides these, around Rs2.50 crore has been approved for setting up a world class gym in the vacant space at International Swimming Pool at GE road besides other facilities.
The Union Ministry of Urban Development has already released Central Assistance of Rs 1,062.27 crore to 13 States as first installment under AMRUT project for the current financial year, officials stated.
This is a part of total Central Assistance of Rs 5,311.38 crore committed to 13 States for which the Ministry has approved Atal Mission Action Plans for 2015-16 entailing total investment of Rs 11,671.76 cr in 286 cities in these states.
The Ministry has so far cleared a total of 939 projects for 286 cities with most of them related to water supply and sewerage network services.
AMRUT project launched in June this year aims at ensuring water supply connections and sewer connections to all urban households in 500 mission cities besides supplying water at the norm of 135 litres per capita per day, on priority. Under this mission, construction of storm water drains, promotion of non-motorised urban transport, provision of parks and green spaces also will be supported.
The purpose of AMRUT is to ensure that every household has access to a tap with assured supply of water and a sewerage connection, increase in amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well maintained open spaces (parks) and reduce pollution by switching to public transport or constructing facilities for non-motorised transport (like walking and cycling).
The cities identified for AMRUT mission are — Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, Bhilai, Rajnandgaon, Korba, Raigarh, Ambikapur and Jagdalpur, said official sources.
The State Urban Administration and Development Department will soon take up the integrated solid waste management project planned for the city.
The project would be taken up and operated under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model on Design, Build , Finance, Operate and Transfer basis, officials stated.
The regions such as Raipur, Naya Raipur, Charoda, Jamul, Kumhari Bhilai-III and Durg will come under ‘Greater Raipur’ region.
Meanwhile, the 'Raipur Smart City Plan' has the component of visual mapping of the city for ease of travel across the city , officials informed.
The other key features of the plans would be — CCTV surveillance, Pedestrian only streets, 100 per cent door to door collection, removing street parking among others.
There are also plans to make Raipur a ‘Visually Aesthetic City’ which would comprise street art, neighbourhood art and rejuvenating dead walls.
The plan also has the component of e-Rickshaw zones.
Notably, Raipur city has improved the quality of 'smart city' plans by 25 per cent to finally find its place in the list of 13 cities chosen by the Central government for development as a ‘smart city’.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh government has approved Rs13 crore for 89 developmental works to be undertaken by Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC).
Notably, a sum of Rs 10 crore has been approved by the State government for various wards of RMC including drain construction, road widening, electrification and pipeline extension, according to an official press release .
Brisk execution of urban infrastructure projects, approval of smart city plans for 60 cities in the country, credit rating of cities for resource mobilisation through municipal bonds, Swachh Bharat Mission picking up momentum in urban areas, enactment of Real Estate Act and notification of Real Estate Rules, large scale approval of construction of affordable houses for urban poor and massive investment approval in urban areas have, modification of Building Bye-laws and simplification of approvals for building plans and construction permits made the year 2016 a new landmark in urban development, the Central Government has informed.
Under AMRUT, a total of 490 projects with an investment of Rs6,571 crore have taken off the ground. These include 102 projects to ensure water supply connections to all households besides enabling water supply at the normative 135 litres per head per day in 76 cities at a total cost of Rs3,474 crore and 41 sewerage and septage management projects and augmenting water supply in another 39 mission cities at a cost of Rs2,878 crore. Another 319 projects with a cost of Rs9,686 crore are close to being awarded for implementation. Development of open and green spaces is in progress in almost all the 500 mission cities.
Investment of Rs30,657 crore has been approved under Atal Mission during 2016 for improving infrastructure relating water supply, sewerage networks, storm water drains, urban transport with focus on non-motorised transport and open and green spaces.
Under Smart city Mission that involved the complex task of converting city-wise Smart City Plans into projects warranting elaborate technical planning, 87 projects in 19 cities worth Rs5,768 crore are under execution with seven of them already completed, even though the first batch of 20 smart cities was announced in January, 2016. Another 80 projects with an investment of Rs4,448 crore are close to being awarded for implementation. A total investment of Rs1,32,197 crore has been approved under the Smart City Plans of 60 cities during January-December, 2016.
During this year, a qualitative transformation has been set in motion with cities embarking on credit rating which is necessary for mobilization of much required resources through municipal bonds. 87 smart cities have undertaken credit rating exercise with 16 of them completing the process. 12 cities that have been given credit rating are: Pune-AA, Ahmedabad and New Delhi Municipal Council-AA minus, Visakhapatnam-A, Jaipur- A minus, Udaipur, Kota and Ajmer-BBB plus, Tirupati, Kakinada and Bhubaneswar-BBB and Roukela-BB plus.