[Urbanstudy] Modi on move, projects on hold

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1141107/jsp/nation/story_19007685.jsp#.VFyoJWcS7-l



Modi on move, projects on hold  OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

*New Delhi, Nov. 6: *Myanmar, Australia, Fiji, Nepal…

Come next week, Narendra Modi will be on the move, but two flagship
projects his finance minister had announced in his budget speech will be on
hold.

Reason: there’s little time left to get clearances from the Prime
Minister’s Office.

In this new dispensation, all ministries have to get the go-ahead from the
PMO before even pursuing the mandatory nod from the expenditure finance
committee.

The two projects — one on smart cities and the other promising housing for
all, both adaptations of UPA schemes — had been announced by finance
minister Arun Jaitley this July. The urban development ministry had set a
target to get clearances for the projects before Parliament’s winter
session starts on November 24.

Now, ministry officials are not confident about getting the green signal
from the PMO in time for all the bureaucratic processes to be complete
before the winter session starts.

Modi is scheduled to leave for a three-nation tour of Myanmar, Australia
and Fiji on November 11. He would be back on November 20 before he sets off
again on November 24 for a four-day trip to Nepal.

The PMO had given the urban development ministry time till October 21 to
make presentations on the broad aspects of the two projects — the Sardar
Patel National Mission For Urban Housing and the smart city scheme.
“Because of paucity of time we could only give the presentation for smart
cities. It was decided that the concept note for housing for all would be
presented on another day,” said a senior ministry official.

Only after the nod from the PMO comes can the ministry put the proposal
before the expenditure finance committee and, later, the cabinet.

Sources said urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu had asked officials
to make sure that both projects were operational before the winter session
got under way so that he had something to show. “If the projects are
cleared in time, no one can ask uncomfortable questions,” the official
added.

The schemes are both adaptations of UPA projects. While housing for all is
an amended version of the Rajiv Awas Yojana, the smart city project is a
take-off on the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The smart city scheme promises amenities like continuous water supply, a
modern sewerage system and infrastructure development, among other
facilities. The total investment needed for providing these services is
estimated to be around Rs 7.5 lakh crore over 20 years, or Rs 35,000 crore
a year.

Housing for all promises not just homes for the urban poor but also houses
on rent for migrants and development of infrastructure in unauthorised
colonies. Some 65.5 million people live in 2,613 urban slums across the
country.

The government plans to construct 30 million affordable houses at a cost of
Rs 22.5 lakh crore over the next few year
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup_mail.sarai.net/attachments/20141107/6ad15697/attachment.html>