Srinagar, Feb 19 (KNS): There were as many as 670 developmental projects costing rupees one crore or above which had overshot their scheduled completion dates due to which the state exchequer has lost around 1900 crores.
The official documents in possession of KNS reveal that the incomplete projects had a total sanctioned cost of rupees 3100 crores approximately and an extra amount of rupees 1901.52 crores had been expended on these incomplete projects.
Furthermore, in respect of six projects of Public Works Department (PWD), 41 projects of PHE and six projects of PDD divisions, the cost was revised upwards by a whooping rupees 224.92 crores. However, there were no specific reasons given over the revising of the costs of the pending projects.
The documents reveal that for public works in Jammu region of the state, the number of incomplete projects was 574, sanctioned at the cost of rupees 2452.69 crores, The cost was later revised to the tune of rupees 2518.93 crores, resulting the extra expenditure of rupees 1328.10 crores.
In Power Development Department Jammu, the total number of incomplete projects was 30 for which rupees 525.29 crores were sanctioned. Owing to the incompletion of these projects, their costs were later revised to rupees 655.53 crores, resulting in an extra expenditure of rupees 401.16 crores.
In Public Health Engineering Jammu, the total number of incomplete projects were 56 in number. These projects were sanctioned at the cost of rupees 81.92 crores. The cost of these projects was revised to rupees 110.36, hence the extra expenditure incurred upon these projects of PHE was 69.63 crore rupees.
In the department of Irrigation and Flood Control Kashmir, there were 11 incomplete projects, sanctioned at the cost of 77.48 crore rupees.
Meanwhile, be it the construction of roads, bridges or building power infrastructure, delay has become synonymous to the functioning in Jammu and Kashmir. In the power sector, upgrade of transmission lines and construction of several hydel power projects were earlier obstructed. Two years ago, work on the 850-MW Ratle project on Chenab river at Drabshalla in Kishtwar district was stopped as those who were accorded the project stated that the "atmosphere around the site was insecure.'' The company was forced to do this after people entered its site offices "and harassed the staff demanding employment. At present even, the snail’s pace of work on this multi crore project is raising several eye brows in the state.
Moreover, the four-laning of the 300-km Jammu-Srinagar highway was delayed due to land acquisition issues at the 67.7-km Srinagar-Banihal section. The contract was awarded in September 2010 to a consortium of Ramky Infrastructure (74 per cent stake) and China's Jiangsu Provincial Transportation Engineering Group Co Ltd. The venture had to design, build, finance, operate and transfer the project on an annuity basis. The concession period was 20 years. The semi-annual annuity was Rs 134.82 crore and the estimated project cost was Rs 1,101 crore. The project is yet to witness completion with government claiming that it would be completed soon. Earlier, it was scheduled to be completed by June 2016. (KNS)