J-K govt calls for expeditious implementation of Rs 1,500 cr World Bank-funded projects

The Jammu and Kashmir governor administration Thursday called for expeditious implementation of the World Bank-funded projects to ensure timely and productive utilisation of resources for addressing infrastructure gaps in key sectors.

"The Project Implementing Units (PIUs) should in coordination with the Project Management Unit (PMU) expedite project formulation, award of contracts and execution of works to meet the time-lines," Principal Secretary, Planning Development and Monitoring, Rohit Kansal said.

He was speaking at a wrap-up meeting with the visiting World Bank Technical Mission Team, which concluded its three-day tour to the state Thursday.

The World Bank Technical Mission Team headed by Deepak Singh comprised of Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist, Hemant Karelia, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, Heena Doshi, Operations Specialist Manzoor Khan, an official spokesman said.

He said the meeting was informed that the World Bank has in 2016 sanctioned a loan of Rs 1,500 crore for infrastructure upgradation in health, housing and urban development, education, industries, disaster management and road connectivity sectors in the state.

To expedite implementation of the World Bank and other externally funded projects, the governor administration last month approved merger of the Jhelum-Tawi Flood Recovery (JTFR) Project with the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) to channelise multilateral funding through a single route and ensure better coordination under the overall administrative control of the Planning, Development and Monitoring Department, the spokesman said.

Sharing their views on the basis of the field visits and interactions at various levels during their visit to the state, the World Bank team stressed the urgency of expediting project formulation and submission, building capacities of the executing agencies and addressing bottlenecks at various levels, he said.

The spokesman said the team assured to look positively into the issue of modifying qualification criteria to enable the local bidders to participate in the execution of projects.

The team informed that the World Bank will be inviting officers from PIUs in J&K to interact with the Bank executives in its New Delhi office so that they are abreast with the project formulation procedures, he said.