J&K Assurance Committee reviews reconstruction projects

SRINAGAR: The Assurance Committee of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Saturday called upon the authorities of Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) to identify projects in the state purely on the basis of merit and viability.

The committee headed by CPI-M MLA M Y Tarigami, which met here today, said that the projects already undertaken by the agency should be completed within a stipulated time frame.

It reviewed the status of assurances held out on the floor of the house by the government on some projects which would be taken up by the ERA. It also discussed the status paper presented to it by the agency and maintained that the progress needed to be speeded up, officials said.

They said an amount of Rs 1,376 crore - a loan component from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) - would be spent by the ERA under reconstruction programme. These funds would be spent on the improvement of transport, road, water supply, drainage and other essential sectors under strict guidelines of ADB.

The ERA has already started execution work on various projects, the officials said.

The reconstruction programme would be carried out in three phases. The work commenced in May 2005, would conclude in 2014, they said.

In the first phase, Rs 100 crore would be spent on water supply schemes and Rs 150 crore on improvement of drainage in Srinagar city. Similarly, Rs 238 crore would be spent on water supply schemes and Rs 67 crore on drainage and sanitation in Jammu.

Besides Opposition National Conference members Mubarak Gul and Shahjahan Dar, the meeting was attended by the directors ERA, B D Bhagat and Hilal Ahmed.