Smart City: Sidhu seeks review of likely consultants

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 30

Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has returned the files on appointing Project Management Consultants (PMC) for Jalandhar and Amritsar Smart City projects to his office, seeking a review of the companies under consideration.

The file for a final clearance of the companies for the projects had been submitted to Sidhu a few days back “after a long process of verification”. Sidhu has sought a ‘recheck’ on the capability and background of the parties being scrutinised for the project before finalising the names. Refusing to divulge details of the names under consideration for the Amritsar and Jalandhar projects, a senior official said the Ludhiana project had earlier been handed over to Aecon Asia Pvt Ltd.

Confirming the return of files to the office, a senior officer said, “To break away from the legacy of the SAD-BJP government while finalising the companies that will be handed over the project, our department has decided to recheck the background, strength and capability of the parties under consideration.”

The Local Government has taken up with the state government the issue of non-availability of matching grants for the Smart City project to the Centre share. In the equity share of 50 per cent, the Centre and the state need to contribute a share of Rs500 crore each.

The Centre has already communicated it will not release any grant for Jalandhar and Amritsar till Punjab gave the remaining portion of its matching grant of Rs200 crore for the Ludhiana Smart City project. Punjab had released only Rs32 crore out of its total share of Rs200 crore for Ludhiana.

Sources said the department had been asked to finalise its blueprint for project works as the state would make provisions for the project in its Budget in June.