Absence of funds clarity prompts civic chief to stall 87 road works

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, Aug 16:

In a surprising development, the municipal commissioner of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) Abhijeet Chaudhari has reduced the list of 111 roads to 24 roads, which were claimed to be developed under the Smart City Mission.

The estimated cost of these 111 roads was Rs 317 crore. As per the financial planning, the Smart City Mission will fund Rs 80 crore, while the remaining amount of Rs 237 crore will have to be borne by the AMC. During the review, the civic chief, on finding the creation of financial burden upon the AMC, immediately reduced the list to 24 roads. He pointed out that the remaining works would be undertaken when there will be adequate funds in AMC’s exchequer.

It may be noted that the Smart City Mission concluded in March 2022. Before it, the union Government has issued directives to

Aurangabad Smart City Limited Company Limited (ASCDCL) stated that it will not approve any new proposal after March 2022. Hence, the ASCDCL included the proposal of 111 roads before the deadline. It was propagated that these roads will be developed from funds of the mission. The new civic chief, however, during the review found things indifferent from what is being said and what is actually on paper He took a prompt decision.

Earlier, the ASCDCL awarded the contract of roads to A G Constructions. A third-party inspection of the proposed list of roads was also done from IIT-Mumbai. In the first phase, the team of IITians finalised two road designs and started the construction of roads in the Saraswati Bhuvan College and Bhagyanagar areas. Later on, the designs of 22 roads were approved. The planning includes the construction of seven roads, in each legislative assembly constituency, that will be constructed under the mission. Of which, works on 12 roads have also been started, said the ASCDCL sources.

Reality surfaced

The municipal commissioner and the ASCDCL chief executive officer Abhijeet Chaudhari reviewed the Smart City Mission recently. He obtained details about the total number of tenders floated, to be floated, provision of funds, estimated provision of funds, the State and the Central Government funds, and contribution of Rs 250 crore as AMC’s share in the mission.

During the review, he objected to the monetary burden of Rs 237 crore upon the AMC. He learnt that the proposal is floated in the name of Smart City Mission, but the major funding for it would be from the AMC. He immediately took the decision and ordered the development of 24 roads only, said the sources.

Loan of Rs 250 crore

Chaudhari underlined,” It was planned to develop roads under Smart City Mission, but we would not be getting additional fund support from the Centre and the State. The AMC is not so financial empowered to fund the project. The AMC has already obtained a loan of Rs 250 crore to contribute its share to the mission. Hence 24 roads only will be developed from Smart City Funds. The development of the remaining roads will not be undertaken for development until the funding issue does not gets clear. The works of remaining roads have been stalled for a tentative period.”