Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya has decided to set up a task force to complete over a dozen civic projects that have been lying unfinished for over a decade now.

The task force will be headed by municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation?s (CMC) engineering department has already taken up a Rs 50-lakh scheme for installing an elevator and an additional transformer for power supply, and to give a fresh coat of paint to the Gariahat market.

?I don?t know why the previous civic board took up multi-crore projects like reconstruction of Star theatre and Citizens? Park when Lansdowne Market and Kankurgachhi VIP Market have been lying unfinished since the late 1980s,? mayor Bhattacharya said.

The Gariahat market, DL Khan Road housing project, Mohit Mancha, Vidyasagar Mancha, Maniktala market, Kankurgachhi VIP Market, Hudco building, New Market fish range, Lake Market, Bansdroni market, College Street market and the Lansdowne market are some of the incomplete projects.

Engineers in CMC?s project and development wing pointed out that had 50 per cent of the Rs 28 crore spent on Star theatre and Citizens? Park been made available, a dozen unfinished projects could have been completed. The wing was originally a department to monitor and develop the civic markets.

In the 80s and 90s, the CMC was facing a severe funds crunch. As a joint venture with private parties was considered a political taboo then, it had to carry out construction work of its projects only when it had money in hand.

?Various pockets of the city will get a major facelift if these unfinished projects are completed quickly,? mayor Bhattacharya said. However, before starting discussions with private parties, the civic body will examine whether some alterations can be made to the original construction plans to turn the projects more viable.