KMC projects in limbo as Centre blocks funds

KOLKATA: Two projects of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) - a Rs 500-crore sewerage and drainage upgradation project and a Rs 200-crore Dhapa water treatment plant - got stuck midway as the Centre has stopped funding them.
While the sewerage project has overshot its deadline, the Dhapa project will suffer for the Trinamool-run KMC board's reluctance to budge from its poll pledge of not imposing water tax, a must to get central funds for it.
The Centre provides 35% of a JNNURM project's total cost. The same is borne by the state while the project's nodal agency funds the rest.
The sewerage project was placed under the JNNURM with the Centre's nod in 2006. A global tender was floated for de-silting brick sewers along Rashbehari Avenue, Hazra Road, APC Road, Lenin Sarani, Canning Street and Beadon Street. The work order was issued in 2006 with a two-year deadline. Yet, the project has made little progress. While, mechanical de-silting work on Lenin Sarani and APC Road is complete, similar work on other stretches barring a small one along Rashbehari Avenue remains undone. The Union urban development ministry stopped disbursing funds for the project after repeated reminders went unheeded.
Now, KMC is trying to buck up after realizing that roads where work is complete are being spared from flooding after every pounding from the heavens.
Similarly, the much-touted water treatment plant at Dhapa faces uncertainty midway through its execution. Despite the Centre asking for a Detailed Project Report (DPR), the KMC planning and development department has failed to submit one in the past six months though construction began more than a year ago. This apart, the Centre has asked KMC to impose water tax to enable the civic body get funds under JNNURM.
"Our decision not to heed this central directive and levy water tax may cost us dear," said a KMC official.
Construction of this treatment plant was planned three years ago to supply potable water to residents along the E M Bypass. The project faced initial hurdles on environmental grounds but was eventually cleared. However, the civic authorities did not plan to lay inlet pipes from Bagbazar for drawing water from the Hooghly. The distribution line was also ignored. Given KMC's funds crunch, the civic authorities are in no position to continue with these projects if the Centre sticks to its ground of not releasing funds under the JNNURM banner, a KMC official said.