KOCHI: With a little more than two months to complete the fiscal, Kochi corporation's plan fund expenditure stands at 26%. As per schedule, the expenditure should have crossed 70% in March. Of the 26%, only 5% is the expenditure for this fiscal and so there is little chance for the local body to achieve more than 50% spending by the end of the fiscal.
Contractors' strike,
GST issues and shortage of raw materials like quarry metals contributed to the delay. The local body could attain 26% expenditure with the implementation of spillover projects, which come to four-fifth of the total expenditure so far. "We had completed the planning and other preliminary works for implementing plan fund project well within the schedule. But, a host of issues slow peddled the project implementation," said Gracy Joseph, chairperson, standing committee for the corporation. "First, it was the issues related to GST that stopped the contractors from undertaking the local body's projects. No sooner did we sort out the issue than the government put cap on cash withdrawal from treasury. The government put a withdrawal limit of Rs 10 lakh per day for each local body. Being a corporation, Kochi's daily plan fund expenditure would come to crores. This led to a crisis," Gracy said.
" There is shortage of raw materials like quarry metal. The price of floor tiles, etc went up. So, the contractors are unwilling to carry out local bodies' works. Now, around 700 works, mostly road works, are all set for awarding. But the contractors are reluctant to carry out these works. Even those who have already undertaken projects are yet to start the works," she said.
According to opposition leadership, the corporation authorities failed to take measures to start project implementation on time. Had the project implementation began in April itself as stipulated by the state government, majority of the works could have been completed before issues related to GST started to pop up.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com