Centre okays Rs 160-cr drinking water projects

Expressbuzz, Feb 19, 2009

BHUBANESWAR: The Centre has sanctioned nine drinking water projects under Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) and integrated housing for slum-dwellers in eight towns.

While the total cost of the drinking water projects is Rs 160.82 crore, the Central share is Rs 128.66 crore and the balance is to be met by the State Government.

The housing project under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) is estimated at Rs 85.19 crore of which the Central share is Rs 56.74 crore.

These projects will be set up in Baripada, Nayagarh, Bargarh, Talcher, Dhenkanal, Balasore, Bhawanipatna, Phulbani and Chattrapur.

The funding pattern for the scheme is 80:10:10. While the Central share is 80 per cent, the State Government and the urban local body (ULB) will bear 10 per cent each.

As most of the State ULBs are not financially sound, the State Government decided to take care of the ULB share particularly for drinking water projects, Urban Development Minister K.V. Singhdeo said.

In the second phase, the Ministry of Urban Development has sanctioned 3,813 dwelling units for urban slums in eight towns under IHSDP. They are Jharsuguda, Balangir, Keonjhargarh, Baripada, Bhadrak, Bhawanipatna, Jeypore and Sambalpur.

In the first phase, project proposals of 15 towns were sanctioned by the ministry.

Although the cost of an individual dwelling unit was Rs 80,000 with minimum construction area of 25 square metre, there was no response to the tender floated by the Government as the scheduled rate was not acceptable to the construction firms.

The Centre revised the unit cost to Rs 1 lakh after the State Government took up the matter with the ministry, Singhdeo said.