ITANAGAR, Aug 23: The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) during a meeting under its Chairman, Chief Minister Pema Khandu, on Thursday cleared projects worth more than Rs 700 crore.
The various infrastructure projects that have been cleared include construction of tribal culture centres in all the districts; setting up infrastructure for making Udaan 2 functional (subject to certain modifications); repair and disaster relief works; ring road through Jully, Itanagar; restoration of the Potin-Pangin road; completion of Komsing bridge in Pangin; CC roads in Itanagar and Naharlagun and district headquarters Tawang, Seppa, Namsai and Raga; and double-laning of the steel arch Borum bridge.
Establishment of a seismic-isolated training research & quality control institute, upgrading the infrastructure of the working women’s hostel in Itanagar, establishing a district secretariat complex in Pasighat (Rs 25 crore) and Itanagar (Rs 12.50 crore), construction of the APPSC building, laying a permanent bridge across the Pachin river near Central Jail (to be renamed as Tarh Peeju), including approach road, were also among the projects that have been accorded clearance.
Various other proposals were agreed to in principle, including establishment of Medicity (Phase-I) at Pachin Colony, Naharlagun; and establishment and operation of drug de-addiction centres in Papum Pare, East Siang, Lohit, Namsai, Changlang, Tirap, Longding, and Anjaw districts.
The CCI approved the proposal for constructing a directorate complex in Itanagar to house all the directorates under one campus, and allocation of fund for creation of basic infrastructure for the newly-created districts in the next budget.
The CCI also decided to restrict the contingency charges of project cost from the existing 3% to maximum 1.5 %.
The CCI also decided that, in order to have a uniform system for revision of project costs, henceforth all departments will submit such proposals to the planning department, which will get it vetted by a committee of chief engineers constituted by the government for the purpose.
The CCI also took serious note of the fact that a major chunk of the government’s resources are going into construction of retaining walls, protection walls and boundary walls, which otherwise could be utilized in other critical infrastructure like schools, health centres, colleges, water supply, electricity, etc.
It said all the departments concerned must ensure that the funds allocated to them are utilized for their core activities only.
The CCI also directed the public works department (PWD) to prepare a comprehensive roadmap for connecting all the urban centres and administrative headquarters in a phased manner to ensure that roads are constructed in a planned manner which results in optimum utilization of resources.
Among others, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein (Minister In-charge of Planning, Finance and PWD), the chief secretary, the finance, planning & investment commissioner, and the planning secretary attended the meeting.
