The Indian Express 15.03.2013
HUDCO team visits city, loan of Rs 400 cr on cards
A 20-member team from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) visited city on Thursday and held talks with the Municipal Corporation for granting approval to various projects worth Rs 453.96 crore out of the total credit line of Rs 2,000 crore proposed by the civic body.
The state government has prepared a scheme of financial assistance for development of municipal infrastructure under urban local bodies of Punjab. Under the scheme, there is a proposal to borrow around Rs 2,000 crore from financial institutions for meeting infrastructure needs of urban local bodies in the next three years as per requirement.
In pursuance of this, HUDCO has approved and sanctioned credit of Rs 2,000 crore to complete major projects of Ludhiana, and the director (local government) will be handling the job to 'deduct repayment instalments to HUDCO without sending it to local bodies'.
On the security of the state government, HUDCO has already approved projects worth Rs 453.96 crore and was in the city to discuss in detail these projects. The team of 20 members also visited the Balloke sewerage treatment plant to assess its working and see if the work for which it granted loan was being done or not.
Gurmeet Singh Khosa, executive engineer, said, "HUDCO sanctioned a loan of Rs 150 crore for sewerage issues in the city last time. Out of this, Rs 82 crore were released earlier and we asked for Rs 12 crore more this year. Taking note of it, Rs 8 crore more were given to us yesterday to fill the sewerage pipe gaps from Balloke to Lohara. They visited the plant to see its functioning."
The projects approved by HUDCO for city include construction of flyovers at Bharat Nagar Chowk, Bhai Wala Chowk, Sarabha Nagar Chowk and Jamalpur worth Rs 24 crore each. Widening of Ferozepur road (NH 95) six-lane to eight-lane worth Rs 34 crore and widening of roads along Buddha nullah and Humbran road worth Rs 110 crore and Rs 5 crore respectively.
HUDCO regional chief V K Joshi told Ludhiana Newsline, "We plan to release around Rs 400 crore for various projects in the coming two-three years while Rs 250 crore has already been released in past years. We also discussed increasing the coverage area of MC from every direction by 1 km, and plans to help MC in Metro project are also being considered."
MC commissioner R K Verma said, "We tried to negotiate to provide Rs 400 crore finance for different projects in city. A proposal to increase MC coverage area is under consideration and once the MC House approves it, it will be sent to the state government."
