BHUBANESWAR: ONT Bureaue(6/1/17) The Board of Trustees of the Odisha Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (OUIDF) on Thursday accorded in principle approval to five projects worth Rs 588.88 crore for different Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
The projects approved by the OUIDF Trust included rehabilitation of slum dwellers under housing for all at Subudhipur, Satyanagar and Gadakana of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) at an estimated cost of Rs 23.33 crore, Rs 66.48 crore and Rs 94.92 crore respectively, solid waste management project in Berhampur Municipal Corporation with an investment of Rs 94.92 crore and sewerage development system at Sambalpur with an estimated cost of Rs 309.33 crore. These projects were recommended by the technical committee.
Of 19 projects approved so far, the OUIDF Board of Trustees headed by Chief Secretary AP Padhi reviewed the projects under implementation at a high-level meeting here. The OUIDF has so far received financial assistance of Rs 411 crore from KFW Bank of Germany in the form of a line of credit and technical assistance support to develop and finance urban infrastructure projects having environmental implications. Besides, the State Government has sanctioned Rs 20 crore.
“The first phase projects approved by the Trust has been given required financial support from the external assistance from KFW. The Chief Secretary on Thursday directed to scale the credit rating of the ULBs concerned,” Chief Executive of OUIDF Sishir Kumar Ratho told reporters after the meeting. Better credit rating will help the ULBs plan their own projects and opt for finance from different funding agencies, he added.
The meeting reviewed the progress of projects under implementation. Some of the projects are water supply to Berhampur town, reclamation of 14 water bodies in Bhubaneswar and three in Berhampur, solid waste processing project in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, establishment of 56 vending zones in Cuttack and energy efficient street lighting in five ULBs.
