Don’t take up small projects under capex funding: H&UDD tells Deptts

Srinagar : In a significant move, the Housing & Urban Development Department has directed the departments under its administrative control to refrain from taking up small-sized projects from the funds made available by the government, saying that they don’t have any tangible impact on the ground and also face monitoring challenges.
The H&UDD has directed the authorities and agencies to avoid small-sized projects from the funds made available by the government under different schemes.
“If the Urban Local Bodies or any other entity still feel a need for such tiny projects, they are encouraged to raise their own resources for such projects, since the used of their own funds is likely to create a self-policing measures at the local level,” reads an order issued by the Housing & Urban Development Department. The order said that a project should minimum involve capital expenditure of Rs five lakh.
The departments have also been directed that the funds made available by the government shouldn’t be split into tiny-sized projects, such as frequently done by the Urban Local Bodies/Municipal Corporations.
The departments/ authorities have also been directed to undertake the third-party quality monitoring by a reputed agency.
As per the department, all the civil works costing more than Rs five crore and machinery and equipment purchased over Rs 50 lakh shall be subjected to the third-party quality monitoring