All 1300 languishing projects to be completed by Mar 31: J&K govt

Srinagar:  Days after deciding to borrow Rs 1,500 crore from the open market, Jammu and Kashmir government has gone into overdrive and set March 31, 2021 deadline for completing all 1300 languishing development projects in the union territory.

Official document accessed by The Kashmir Monitor reveals that the administration so far has completed 708 projects, which have been lingering for years together.

Financial Commissioner, Finance Department Arun Kumar Mehta who is also the chairman of J&K Infrastructure Development Finance  Corporation (JKIDFC), has set March 31, 2021 deadline for completing the remaining 592 projects.

“Chairman and Managing Director directed the team JKIDFC for stressing the departments to speed up the progress of work of these projects and complete the committed 1300 projects in the financial year 2020-21,” reads a document.

As per the minutes of the recently held meeting, Mehta expressed displeasure over the slow pace of work on languishing projects.

“The chairman directed to forward a letter to all the concerned administrative secretaries regarding the slow-moving projects of the department-approved under JKIDFC along with the list,” the document reads.

“The administrative secretaries of each department shall be conveyed to take necessary action for faster implementation of these projects and explain the reasons for the delay.” 

The chairman of the corporation in the meeting expressed for dropping the project from the list of languishing projects if the nodal officer fails to initiate work within a stipulated time.

JKIDFC recently gave a go-ahead to borrow money from open market to complete the languishing projects.

To resume work and complete the projects, JKIDFC  has invited expressions of interest (EOI) from reputed banks, financial institutions registered with Reserve Bank of India for lending Rs 1,500 crore to J&K government at an interest rate of 8.5 percent.

Jammu and Kashmir Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (JKIDFC) is a Registered Corporation under the Companies Act, 2013. The Corporation is mandated to raise loan up to Rs 8,000 crore for funding Infrastructure Development in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Corporation was established by the State Administrative Council (SAC) on September 5, 2018, to provide a fillip to the developmental activities across Jammu and Kashmir.