Bhubaneswar, Oct. 5: The city will have to wait a little longer to get improved water supply facilities and more green space under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme, as the administration here is busy playing the blame game.

Amrut scheme is supposed to be executed by Public Health Engineering Organisation (Pheo), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board along with technical support from the EIL, a Union government appointed technical partner of the project.

According to the plan, the authorities should have invited tenders and started work on four parks and 12 water supply projects by March this year. However, not a single tender has been awarded till date.

The status report of the projects shows that so far the administration has prepared 14 detailed project reports and has floated tenders for four projects, including one park. The tenders are yet to be awarded to any of the bidders. Lack of coordination between the administration and the technical partner, Engineers India Limited (EIL), is said to be causing the delay.

A senior Pheo official said: "Generally what happens is that our experts prepare the detailed reports for water supply projects and submit it to an agency, which in this case is EIL, for evaluation. Thereafter, the tender is floated and subsequently awarded. However, the EIL is taking huge time to complete the evaluation process and this is delaying the projects," said the official on the condition of anonymity.

On the other hand, at a meeting held at the secretariat, the EIL had blamed the three public agencies for causing delay in submitting the project reports for evaluation. EIL officials have said that the BMC was supposed to submit the report of the park at Niladri Vihar by August end, but it has not received it till date.

The other eight Amrut cities in the state are comparatively ahead in project execution. According to the status, Cuttack has already awarded tenders for 11 out of 19 projects, Rourkela and Balasore, four each, Sambalpur, two and Puri, one. Berhampur had invited seven tenders and Baripada, one. Only Bhadrak has not invited or awarded any tenders.

Niladri Vihar resident Giridhari Sahoo said the area had seen a lot of concrete growth in terms of residential complexes, but is desperately short of facilities. "The population here is increasing at a very rapid pace. We had written to the civic body recently about our problems and were assured of projects such as parks and recreational centres. However, looking at the pace of work, we are not very hopeful," said Sahoo.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, however, assured of expediting the work under the scheme. "We have decided to submit the project report to the EIL through the housing and urban development department on time and on the other hand the central agency will evaluate and approve the same within seven days. The mechanism has been changed now, which will definitely help complete the projects on time," said Jena.