Under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0, cities are likely to initiate projects worth Rs 5,000 crore, covering water supply, sewage treatment, and rejuvenation of water bodies and parks, as a part of the 100-day agenda of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, during its third term.
Launched in 2021, AMRUT 2.0 aims to provide tap water supply to all households across 4,800 statutory towns in the country. With the tendering process completed and the contractors selected, the projects are set to start on the ground soon, sources said.
With the aim of universal tap water supply, the first iteration of AMRUT covered 500 cities in the country. Expanding the coverage to all statutory towns, AMRUT 2.0 was approved with a Central assistance of Rs 66,750 crore from 2021-2022 until 2025-2026, with the total estimated outlay at Rs 2.99 lakh crore.
With two years to go, work on 50 per cent of the projects is yet to start on the ground.
In a reply to the Lok Sabha on July 25 this year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) had said that as many as 4,065 projects worth Rs 77,317.40 crore out of the total 8,205 projects worth Rs 1.82 lakh crore had been awarded, while 4,410 projects worth Rs 1.05 lakh crore were in the stage of floating tender or preparation of detailed project report (DPR). Around 50 per cent of the approved projects relate to the management of water supply, sewerage and septage, showed MoHUA data.
Projects covering rejuvenation of water bodies, development of parks, groundwater recharge and urban flood mitigation are also being implemented under AMRUT 2.0.
Under the 100-day agenda, cities also aim to commission sewage treatment plants (STPs) with a total capacity of 500 million litres a day (MLD) that would benefit around 6 lakh households, and 150 MLD of water treatment plants for 2 lakh households, sources said. These projects are nearing completion and are likely to be commissioned within the 100-day period, they added.
All the cabinet ministries were earlier directed to draw up their agendas before the Lok Sabha elections. The government’s 100-day agenda comprises approval for long-pending proposals including notification of the Delhi Master Plan 2041, and the incubation of eight greenfield cities to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore each in the country, as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission report tabled in Parliament in February 2021.
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