The Hindu 14.02.2014
Urban common service centres planned in city
City Bureau
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa will inaugurate urban common service centres at 10 places in Chennai.
Presenting
the budget in the Assembly, Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam said the
centres would provide a common platform to facilitate the remittance of
various taxes and user charges like property tax, and electricity,
sewage and water charges. These centres will also provide other public
and e-services.
The number of centres in Chennai will
be gradually increased to 200 and be extended to other Corporations,
municipalities and town panchayats. These centres will be managed by the
district e-governance societies under the overall control of the
Information Technology Department.
“I expect that
these institutional interventions will make a significant change in
improving governance and public service delivery,” said Mr.
Panneerselvam.
Projects at Rs. 2,000 crore
The
work for phase-II of the Outer Ring Road will begin in March 2014 at a
cost of Rs. 1,075 crore. Phase-I of the road project, implemented at a
cost of Rs. 1,081.40 crore, will be put to public use shortly. As many
as 17 projects including bridges, roads and railway overbridges in the
Chennai metropolitan area will also be implemented at a cost of Rs.
2,000 crore with financial assistance from the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA). Chennai Peripheral Ring Road is another
ambitious project that will be taken up with loan assistance from JICA.
“In
pursuance of our commitment to establish a multi-modal transport system
in Chennai, the mono rail project has been restructured to make it more
viable. Rs. 200 crore has been provided for this purpose,” said Mr.
Panneerselvam.
An integrated public bus information
system, with a Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled real time
bus-tracking module, will also be implemented. Initially, 500 bus stops
will be networked to establish a public information system on route
maps, bus arrival details and other amenities. This will be extended to
all bus stops in the city in a phased manner.
Also in
the budget estimates 2014-2015, Rs. 500 crore has been allocated for
the Chennai Mega City Development Mission and Rs. 750 crore for the
Integrated Urban Development Mission.
Further, Tamil
Nadu Transmission Corporation Limited is carrying out projects at a cost
of Rs. 5,000 crore, with loan assistance of Rs. 3,572 crore from JICA
in order to strengthen the transmission network, especially in Chennai,
Mr. Panneerselvam said.
