Bhubaneswar: The housing and urban development department has roped in a Mumbai-based agency to monitor and suggest plans for timely completion of various projects under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Transformation (Amrut) scheme here.

The department has entered into an agreement with the Fortress Infrastructure Advisory Services, which will depute its experts to monitor the projects.

Officials of the department will work in co-ordination with them.

"The consultant will conduct periodic inspections of the projects and submit the status report to the department, following which plans will be carved out for the project that faces any kinds of hurdle in execution," said an official, adding that an agreement had been formalised.

At present, various projects, including development of parks and open spaces along with the water supply ones, are being implemented in the city through Amrut. The city plans to develop 17 parks and execute 38 drinking water projects under the scheme by 2021. The scheme is in its second year of implementation.

The need for a monitoring agency was felt after several Amrut projects had faced hurdles during execution. Resistance from local residents at a few places and land crunch are among the major issues faced by the projects.

"Most park projects are facing hurdles. Explaining the reason for the delay, the contractors hired for the projects cited local resistance" said the official.

"At a few places, we did visit the sites and resolved the issues. But, it is not feasible for us all the time. The aim of hiring the consultant is to overcome these problems," he said.

"We are committed to deliver the results well on time. The work on park projects is going on a war footing at various places," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

"The facilities at Satya Nagar, Sailashree Vihar, Bheemtangi and Kanan Vihar will be thrown open to the public this month. External agencies will further help in completing other projects on time," he said.