Kerala - Kochi   

JNNURM: meeting today

K.S. Sudhi

Panel will deliberate on policy matters

KOCHI: The steering committee meeting for the projects that are to be undertaken in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be held in the capital city on Monday.

The committee headed by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will deliberate and decide on a few policy matters and reforms that are to be undertaken at the Government and Corporation levels for getting assistance from the mission programme.

One of the major issues that would come up for discussion at the Thiruvananthapuram meeting would be the Government share of funds for the two cities. The mission selected Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi for receiving assistance for developing infrastructure and other facilities in the city areas.

Under the mission programme, Thiruvananthapuram being the capital city, would get financial assistance to the tune of 80 per cent of the approved project proposals.

However, the share of Central assistance would be 50 per cent in the case of Kochi. The Kochi Corporation would have to raise nearly 30 per cent of the project cost on its own as the Government share would be 20 per cent.

However, the Kochi Corporation earlier approached the State Government for more support as the civic administrators here felt that it would be an uphill task for the Corporation to raise the 30 per cent share of the Rs.11,000 crore project it had prepared.

The other issues that would come up at the Thiruvananthapuram meeting would be commitment from the State Government regarding the reforms it had to implement in the State, including fixing of building tax on the basis of plinth area of the buildings.

Reforms

The mission authorities listed the reforms as options and mandatory for the Governments to implement over a period of seven years. The State Government should take a decision on the memorandum of agreement that it has to sign regarding the implementation of the mission projects.

The preparation of detailed project reports would be another issue that would come up at the Thiruvananthapuram meeting.

Besides the Chief Minister, Paloli Mohammed Kutty, Minister for Local Self-Government; T.M. Thomas Isaac, Finance Minister; Mayors of Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi; MLAs and MPs from the Corporation areas and senior officials of the Local Self-Government Department would attend the meeting.

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