Nagpur: Saumya Sharma-Chandak, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL) on Thursday said that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) of the Union Government has extended the deadline for the Smart City project for the third time and the incomplete projects under it in Nagpur will be completed by March 31, 2025.
The CEO said that most of the development projects in Area-Based Development (ABD) undertaken by NSSCDCL at Pardi-Punapur-Bharatwada-Bhandewadi are well on track and likely to be completed by the March 2025 deadline set by the Central Government. The town planning scheme is under implementation in the area and right now at least mobility issues can be said to have been resolved, claimed Saumya Sharma-Chandak during her maiden media interaction on Thursday.
She informed the media that right now physical completion of the project undertaken is on path. The four elevated reservoirs each of 1.5 lakh litres MLD are completed. After some minor works, they would be handed over to Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) for operations. As to the road network, about 50 kms was planned in the entire area but later it was scaled down to 30 km within the designated ABD area. As to the reason for reduction, Sharma stated that some of the residents in some existing residential areas were not comfortable with increasing width of internal roads. Hence taking into their consideration the earlier 50 km network was readjusted.
Now of the 30 km, work on 16 km has been undertaken and the 10 km road network would be ready in next few months. Further, the CEO disclosed that of the 28 bridges that were to be built to strengthen connectivity with the 1743 Ha area, 10 of them stand completed. Work on another 16 is under progress and work on one more is going to start within a month. The main approach road from Bhandara Road also is nearing completion, she added.
Also, an underpass connecting Bhandara Road will be completed. The underpass would have a facility to drain out water. Similarly, in the entire area the contractors have been instructed to lay stress on beautification to ensure that Smart City work is visible, she said. Listing the achievements of NSSCDCL, she said, they have initiated procurement of e-buses and also installed e-toilets in various parts of the city and also the traffic booths. Also they are working on implementing Citizens Friendly Application and some issues relating to software needs to be resolved.
To another query, the CEO said, NSSCDCL has taken-up the issue of damages that occurred during development works to underground optical fibre cable (OFC) with NHAI and asked them to include their repairs in their project cost. Also the company has raised demands of Rs. 8 to 9 crore from PWD and NHAI for damages during their respective development works to OFC. She also stated that through NSSCDCL emphasis on skirling the women would be taken-up to make them self reliant. For the same a meeting with local companies is called for tapping their CSR fund, she added.
