Smart City Projects: GSCL parks project funds in banks without spending

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Departmentally-Related Standing Committee (DRSC) of the Assam Legislative Assembly expressed concern over the Guwahati Smart City Ltd (GSCL) for not spending government money for the Smart City Project in time.

The DRSC found that the GSCL parked Rs 103.68 crore in various banks. It received the amount as interest from bank accounts maintained by it. The DRSC feels that 'it is not justified to keep government money without spending in due time.

GSCL received Rs 392.09 crore from the Government of India and the Government of Assam against project funds till February 2022, the report said.

The DRSC directed the Guwahati Development Department (GDD) to bring the matter to the notice of the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary and inform them as to why 'such a huge amount of money is kept in the bank accounts from fiscal 2016-17 to 2019-20 without proper utilization'.

The DRSC also frowned at the GSCL not utilizing the approved amount of Rs 400 crore. It directed the GDD to submit a report about that to the DRSC. It also asked the GDD to complete the GSCL projects as soon as possible.

The GSCL could not finalize the projects due to 'frequent changes of its managing directors (MDs)'. A shocked DRSC said that the GSCL had ten MDs in a five-year-and-eight-month period, 'each MD averaging a little over six months.

The DRSC report said, "The frequent change of MDs has led to frequent change of projects and revision of their scope.

"…GSCL did not have the requisite technical manpower to coordinate and work with the project management consultants for preparing technically-sound concrete proposals.

"Most of the GSCL projects are related to infrastructure work, the execution of which requires survey works, preparations of DPRs (detailed project reports), land issues, NOC of different departments/agencies etc. All these are time-consuming procedures."

The GSCL said, "The delay in project execution happened due to the continuous revision in the projects' scope of marquee projects like Development of Brahmaputra Riverfront Project, ITMS (Integrated Traffic Management System) and Spine Road Smart Street Lighting., amounting to Rs 500 crore. But now, all the projects have reached the work-order stage, and with Smart City Mission getting over by June 30, 2023, it is incumbent on GSCL to complete/execute all projects within the timeline except the Brahmaputra Riverfront Development Project that has a project execution timeline of three years."

According to the report, the GSCL completed seven projects, cancelled two projects and put on hold one project. Fifteen other projects are at the work-order stage.

Also Read: GUWAHATI SMART CITY: GSCL to start 17 projects in March

Also Watch: A Man from Tamil Nadu Bought his Dream Bike with Rs. 1 Coins he saved over 3 Years.