Bhubaneswar, March 6: The wait of residents for more green spaces and improved water supply may get longer as the city administration is dillydallying to implement projects proposed under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme.
According to the latest status of Amrut projects in the state's nine cities, where the scheme is being implemented, Bhubaneswar is lagging behind seven of its counterparts.
The Amrut scheme had a statewide launch in January last year, where cities such as Cuttack, Puri, Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Baripada and Bhubaneswar were included. As things stand now, all the cities except Bhadrak have gone ahead of Bhubaneswar in planning and implementing Amrut projects.
"We have approved 16 projects under Amrut for developing and beautifying various parks and improvement of water supply. We have already invited tenders for 15 projects and finalised three tenders for beautification of the parks at Sailashree Vihar, Kanan Vihar and Niladri Vihar. The bidders for the other projects will be selected in a month or two," said an official of the housing and urban development department here.
Taken together, the nine cities had planned to start 81 projects by the 2015-16 fiscal of which work has started on only 41 projects. According to the status of the projects till February this year, Cuttack has already started work on 16 of its 17 projects. As for others, Puri has started work on five, Berhampur on six, Rourkela on five, Sambalpur on five, Balasore on five and Baripada on two projects. Bhadrak is lagging behind with tender been awarded for only one of its six projects.
In the capital city, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, the Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board and the Public Health Engineering Organisation had joined hands for execution of the projects. The Engineers India Limited has also been hired to prepare the detailed project reports for all the schemes, including parks, water supply and water metering here.
City engineer of the municipal corporation Dwaipayan Pattnaik said: "We have got detailed project reports for all the 16 schemes and have floated tenders for 15. Work has already started on three projects. Once the tenders are finalised, it will take about six to eight months for execution of all the projects."
Sailashree Vihar resident Narayan Ojha said that the administration had recently began work on the park near his house. "We did not have much green and open spaces in our area. There was an open and unutilised space near our house on which the civic body had recently started some work. They are working well and I hope that the park comes up here soon," said Ojha, a private sector employee.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: "We are developing the parks, while the water and sewerage projects are being taken care of by various government agencies. We have already begun the work to develop three parks. The water supply and the metering project will also take place simultaneously."
