Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday directed  the ACS Local Government to accelerate the pace of ongoing projects

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday directed  the ACS Local Government to accelerate the pace of ongoing projects under Phase I of the Urban Environment Improvement Program (UEIP), and set a deadline of June 30, 2020, for their completion.

While reviewing the progress of UEIP, Captain Amarinder also asked the ACS to submit the remaining proposals under Phase-I of the programme to the Punjab Infrastructure Development Program (PIDB) by June 15, along with proposals for funding under Phase-II after obtaining the same from the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) by June 15.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain AmarinderNotably, the UEIP is being implemented by the ULBs with financial support of PIDB. 

To ensure time-bound progress of the ongoing projects, the Chief Minister has further directed the ACS to submit a weekly progress report, every Friday.

Earlier, the Director Local Government apprised the Chief Minister that an allocation of Rs 298.75 crore was made to various ULBs under Phase-I of the UEIP, but projects/schemes worth only Rs 108.44 crore had been undertaken so far. Of this, only Rs 40.89 crore had been spent so far.

Punjab GovernmentAs a result, the Department yet to submit project proposals for over Rs 190.31 crore to the PIDB for funding, with the ULBs yet to utilize Rs 67.55 crore.

The Chief Minister directed the ACS Local Government to ensure strict compliance of the timelines for the completion of ongoing projects.

There should be no delay in submission of Phase-II projects to PIDB for funding since the required funds for the same had already been approved by him in February, he added.