HP to get 1,000 new buses under JNNURM scheme

July 29, 2013

PTI Jul 27, 2013,

(At least 1,000 new buses…)

DHARAMSALA: At least 1,000 new buses will be provided to Himachal Pradesh under the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) scheme to strengthen the communication and transport facilitiesbetween its local and urban areas.

“1,000 buses are provided under JNNURM scheme by the Centre to promote public transport and to reduce traffic congestion and pollution,” state Urban Development ministerSudhir Sharma told reporters.

“Once the buses are handed over to Himachal it will cater to the local communication needs of the municipal areas and these will not be given to Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC),” Sharma said.

The Union government had provided few buses to Shimla a couple of years back but they were handed over to HRTC, the minister said.

“The Union government is spending more than Rs 4,900 crore to provide 14,695 buses for the various mission cities under JNNURM. The buses supplied to the cities and hill states are of mid-size category for an easier travel,” he informed.

Source-http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under JNNURM

BMTC’s hopes ride on JNNURM funding

July 29, 2013

ANIL KUMAR SASTRY

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), which is going through rough times, is hopeful of strengthening its fleet with funding under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) transition phase 2013–14.

It also wants to create substantial infrastructure to meet the growing transportation needs of Bangalore by constructing bus depots, workshops and bus stations, with central assistance.

The BMTC has submitted a proposal of Rs. 1,046 crore to the Union Ministry of Urban Development seeking funds under the JNNURM. While many corporations are yet to prepare proposals, the BMTC is ahead of its counterparts and is hopeful of getting the funding early.

The proposal includes procuring 2,150 buses and creating infrastructure to expand the BMTC’s reach, according to P. Ravi Kumar, Principal Secretary, Transport Department.

Mr. Kumar told The Hindu that for tier-1 cities, the Centre would bear 35 per cent of the project cost while the State government would bear 15 per cent; the rest would be borne by the BMTC.

BMTC Managing Director Anjum Parvez told The Hindu that 550 air-conditioned buses, including articulated ones, are proposed to be procured under the funding. These buses would be operated on busy corridors, including Whitefield Road and Hosur Road.

Mr. Parvez said the BMTC proposes to construct 15 depots, two divisional workshops and 14 commuter amenity centres, which will be smaller to the present travel and transit management centres (TTMCs), under funding from the JNNURM. With the exponential growth of the BMTC, the two existing central workshops, one at Shanthinagar and the other at K.R. Puram, were found to be too inadequate to undertake proper maintenance of buses, he said.

With mounting operation costs due to frequent hike in diesel prices and with the BMTC having incurred a Rs. 147-crore loss in 2012–13, the funding is likely to offer a breather.

Source- http://www.thehindu.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under JNNURM

‘Smart cities under JNNURM-II’

July 29, 2013

Press Trust of India : Sun Dec 16 2012,

India’s new cities may soon boast of several smart features like IT-enabled transport and carbon neutral status.

“Under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission Phase-II, every state will have at least one smart city,” urban development minister Kamal Nath said at FICCI’s 85th AGM.

He said the new cities, particularly those with population of half a million to one million, will have a host of IT-enabled services, like transport and other utilities.

Nath also mooted creation of a special municipal cadre to ensure that local bodies have dedicated staff to carry out plans specific to the urban areas.

Source – http://www.indianexpress.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Default, JNNURM

JNNURM-II to be thrice in size than earlier avatar

July 29, 2013

Dipak Kumar Dash, TNN Jun 16, 2013

NEW DELHI: The second phase of the UPA’s flagship programme for urban infrastructure development, JNNURM, would be thrice the size of the last phase. The proposed JNNURM-II, which would be for 10 years including the current fiscal, would be pegged at Rs 1.5 lakh crore, sources in the urban development ministry said.

In a move that would may silence the chief ministers, who have been complaining of discrimination by the Centre in allocation of funds to non-UPA-ruled states, the programme’s second phase would have a greater say for the state governments in both planning and selection of projects. They would have more freedom in choosing cities, cluster of cities and urban growth centres to avail the Central assistance. Sources added that the governments would also submit their comprehensive plan of urbanization in the state.

For the current financial year, Rs 15,000 crore budgetary allocations have been made as a stop-gap arrangement to ensure that the ongoing projects don’t stop midway. JNNURM-II is likely to be launched after the next parliamentary election results are out.

“But the government wants to clear the process so that the programme continues no matter what the result would be. The criteria of selection and fund allocation are yet to be finalized,” said a ministry official. There are reports that performance of states in the first phase of JNNURM could be one of the qualifying norms for selection.

In addition, JNNURM-II’s ambit would be extended to smaller cities and towns. Last year UD minister Kamal Nath had also stated this in Parliament. “Nobody has given attention to town and cities with population of 10,000 to 50,000,” he said replying to the debate on demand for grants for 2012-13.

In the first phase of the mission, the cities with a population of one million or more were included, he said, adding, in the second, the government is planning to include cities with a population five lakh and above.

Source – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under JNNURM

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