MCD needs to speed up

The municipal corporation is running late on over a dozen projects, reports Neelam Pandey.

Even the displeasure of Commonwealth Games Federation chief Mike Fennel over the tardy progress of Games-related projects has failed to spur Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) into action.

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The civic agency is yet to start construction on more than a dozen projects, including construction of road under/ over bridges (RUB/ ROB), streetscaping, improvement of major roads, redevelopment of surroundings of Old and New Delhi railway stations and beautification around venues, among others.

Of the 17 RUB/ROB that the agency is supposed to construct, work has started on just four. Even on those four, hardly 20 per cent work has been done so far. For instance, only eight per cent work has been done so far on Sarai Kale Khan RUB, which has a deadline of March 2010.

“It seems MCD is confused about the deadline. Rather than 2010, it is planning to complete work by 2011. For many projects, such as streetlighting, the process has not begun,” said Vijendra Gupta, BJP councillor.

Despite the slow approach of the agency, MCD commissioner KS Mehra was on the defensive. “We will complete all the work before Commonwealth Games. There is no need to panic,” said Mehra.

“I had asked them to provide a complete status report on all the CWG projects but they have not given information on a number of them,” said Gupta.

The civic agency is supposed to improve and upgrade surroundings and neighbourhood areas of hotels and guesthouses at Paharganj — one of the areas identified by Department of Tourism — where people coming from outside Delhi and foreign visitors are expected to stay during the Games. Though the project has to meet a deadline of May 2010, work is still at a stage of tendering.

Even at sites where construction work has started, it is marred by poor quality.

Recently, due to the heavy rain that lashed the city, Kushak Nallah (which is being covered by the MCD for creating parking space) embankment was breached.

Gupta alleged that lack of adequate funds was causing delay in execution of projects. According to the agency, a total of Rs 900 crore is required for completion of all projects but they have received Rs 390 crore.

A month back while MCD had claimed that they had completed 40 per cent of work of covering Sunehari and Kushak Nallah, the figures given on Wednesday were entirely different.

According to the report submitted on Wednesday, they have completed 28.1 per cent of work of covering Sunehari Nallah and 1.5 per cent work of covering nallah near DPS, RK Puram.