Govt shifts focus on delayed projects

BHUBANESWAR: With civic polls lurking around the corner, a sudden sense of urgency seems to have gripped the Housing and Urban Development department, which had allowed various critical urban infrastructure and development projects in the Capital city to linger for much beyond their deadlines.

Keeping an eye on the urban local body (ULB) elections, which are likely to be announced anytime after June, Minister Pratap Jena on Friday held a review of the projects and asked Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) to prepare a revised timeline for completion of ongoing works.

Many of the Smart City projects have been lagging behind their deadlines and already received four to six-month extension in December 2020. Though the Covid-19 outbreak is stated to be a reason, many projects have been delayed from much earlier period.

Reviewing the progress of 28 Smart City projects, the Minister directed the officials to expedite the construction work immediately. Out of 10 ongoing projects, the BSCL officials were asked to focus more on the plans where the deadline ends on or before May, 2021 and chalk out plan for their inauguration.

The delayed projects include the much-hyped Smart Janpath where 80 per cent work is said to have completed. Similarly, 95 per cent work on Sensory Park for children with special need at Saheed Nagar has been completed and its deadline is February-end. This apart, the deadline of Integrated Public Service Centre at Bapuji Nagar is May. The work of the structure has been completed recently. On the other hand, the timeline of two multi-level car parking (MLCP) building project at Rajmahal has been extended by four months from April to August. 

The ambitious 11-storeyed BMC Intelligent City Operations and Management Centre (ICOMC) project’s deadline ends in April 2021. However, it will be revised as the construction work has only been completed till the ninth floor, officials said.

Department officials stated, the main cause of delay was related to restrictions on workforce during the pandemic. Only 20 per cent workforce was permitted in the first six months after the government allowed to resume construction work in May last year. Later, it was increased to 45 per cent.