First installment of Rs 200 cr each awaited from GoI

JAMMU, Oct 17: The work on Jammu and Srinagar Smart Cities’ Projects is unlikely to begin during the current year as neither the Union Government has so far released first installment of Rs 200 crore each nor the Board of Directors (BoDs) of Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited have prioritized the activities to be considered under Phase-I.

The development of capital cities of Jammu and Kashmir under Smart City Mission was sanctioned by the Union Ministry of Urban Development vide Communication No.K-15016/157/2015-SC-1 dated June 28, 2017.

The State Government vide Order No.1081-GAD dated August 21, 2017 constituted Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) as Companies Limited by shares named as Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited under the Companies Act, 2013 with authorized share capital of Rs 10 lakh, equity share of Rs 10 each and paid up capital of Rs 10 lakh for both the companies for implementation of smart city development projects.

Thereafter, the Board of Directors of both the companies met under the chairmanship of Commissioner/Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development Department and both the BoDs decided to make a request to the Government of India for release of first installment of Rs 200 crore each for Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited, official sources told EXCELSIOR.

In the meeting, it was also decided that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited will immediately prioritize the works to be taken up under the first installment of Rs 200 crore for which formal request letter was also submitted to the Union Ministry of Urban Development.

However, funds from the Government of India have yet not been received.  “We are awaiting first installment from the Government of India”, official sources said, adding both the companies have opened accounts for directly getting the funds from the Union Ministry of Urban Development.

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