Patna, Nov. 23: Unable to reap maximum benefits of the first phase of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the state is now eyeing to make the most of the proposed extension of the programme.

The first phase of JNNURM is scheduled to lapse in 2012. At present, most of the urban infrastructure development projects in Patna and Bodhgaya — the two “mission cities” in the state — are either in the initial stages of execution or yet to take off. The progress of the schemes, aimed at infrastructure development in other small towns, also appears far from satisfactory.

Among other plans of JNNURM-2, the state is aiming to focus on basic urban infrastructure development projects such as ensuring better water supply and drainage networks in big cities such as Patna, Muzaffarpur and Gaya.

Urban development department (UDD) principal secretary Shashi Shekhar Sharma, who is also a member of the National Steering Group for JNNURM-2, said though a few states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have reaped the benefits of JNNURM, most of the states have failed to achieve the desired level of success. “The period of the mission period to lapse in next year. Keeping this in mind, efforts are on to extend the project. The aim is to enable the states to achieve higher rates of success and improve conditions of the cities. National Steering Group will ready the draft of the JNNURM extension by December. Apart from me, other members of National Steering Group include government officials in the rank of secretary from Maharashtra, Assam, Meghalaya and Gujarat,” he told The Telegraph. Sharma, however, admitted that Bihar’s performance in the first phase of the mission was “sluggish”. “Patna and Gaya are the two cities in Bihar covered under JNNURM. The progress of various schemes as part of the mission in these two cities is not impressive. We have not been able to do much in sectors such as roads, transport, water supply and sewerage. Most of the schemes are either in the initial stages of implementation or are yet to be started,” he said.

“This is because of various roadblocks that we had to face in the past. These factors included poor financial con-ditions of urban local bodies and lack of strong institutional and legal framework to stren-gthen them. Besides, the transport scheme under JNNURM could not be executed because we did not get bids from any from bus operator. But we had funds for the purpose,” Sharma added.

The state claims that it has learnt from the experiences in the past and it now hopes to reap maximum benefits of the schemes with JNNURM-2. “We now intend to archive higher rates of success in the executions of various schemes of JNNURM during its extension. At present, the department is in the process of computerising all 28 urban local bodies. Most of the urban local bodies in the bigger cities are expected to get computerized by January, 2012. Moreover, our executing agencies have also been strengthened. In the second phase, we will aim at faster execution of the projects that we have already undertaken,” Sharma said.

Apart from the “mission cities”, road and drain projects in seven other small towns — Fathuha, Murliganj, Narkatiaganj, Rosera, Barbigha, Bhabua and Bakhtiarpur — have been undertaken as part of the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Town sub-mission.