Lockdown brings Karnal Smart City project to halt

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, May 17

The Karnal Smart City project has come to a standstill due to the ongoing Covid pandemic lockdown. Around 30 projects costing around Rs 450 crore could not be commenced as their tenders were not processed due to the lockdown.

To call the tender, permission of the board of directors (BoD) has to be obtained, but the meeting of BoD could not be held due to the lockdown.

Even before the enforcement of the lockdown, the projects under the Union Government’s flagship Smart City Mission had been delayed. As per sources in Karnal Smart City Limited (KSCL), the cut-off date for approval of the tenders was March 31, but the lockdown has halted the process, further delaying the project.

Karnal was included in the smart cities’ list on June 23, 2017. As many as 57 projects worth Rs 1171.83 crore, in which 40 projects worth Rs 1022.08 crore under the area-based development (ABD) for smart amenities was to be completed in the next five years, and 17 projects worth Rs 149.75 crores was undertaken by PAN City Solutions. The project is already lagging behind as most of the projects are in limbo.

Rajiv Mehta, CEO,KSCL, said due to the lockdown, the tenders of these projects could not be processed. The meeting of BoD will be held on May 20 for the approval of tenders. “We cannot do anything without the approval from the BoD. After the approval, we will start the tender process,” he further said.