Even as many urban local bodies in the State have been chosen for AMRUT-2, the second phase of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) programme, the progress of the projects under AMRUT-1 is too slow, with just 56.39% of them completed in the State altogether.
Local bodies had blamed the slow pace on the COVID-19 outbreak and the resultant issues a year ago when only 52% of the projects were completed, which can no longer be considered an excuse as there has not been any significant progress since then.
The State government had submitted three State Annual Action Plans (SAAPs) for an outlay of ₹2,357.69 crore, under which 1,000 projects were to be implemented in the nine mission cities Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Kochi, Thrissur, Guruvayur, Palakkad, Kozhikode, and Kannur.
The projects are distributed in five sectors such as water supply, sewerage and septage management, storm water drainage, urban transport and green space, and parks during the mission period 2015-2023. Completion of these projects thus remains an enormous task before these urban local bodies as AMRUT-1 winds up in less than a year.
The Alappuzha municipality tops in terms of completion of the projects with 153 of the 194 projects out of the way and 80.70% of the funds spent. Palakkad is close behind having completed 114 of the 150 projects and having spent 75.53% of the funds. While all other cities have somehow crossed 50% expenditure, Kozhikode and Kollam are lagging behind drastically.
Even though the Kozhikode Corporation has completed 46 of its 50 projects, its expenditure is at only 38.60%. The corporation, which tendered all its projects, was unable to start four of them due to public protest. Ironically, those are the most expensive projects and, hence, the disparity in the rate of completion and expenditure.
As for Kollam, even though it has completed 45 of the total 59 projects, the expenditure is at 27.06% since it has issues similar to that of Kozhikode.
Sector wise, 76.32% of the funds for water supply projects have been spent while it is 70.22% for the urban transport projects. On the other hand, only 17% of funds have been spent on the sewage and septage sector. The lag is attributed to the widespread public opposition against such projects across the State.
