Srinagar: Even as the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)-Bharatiya Janta Party(BJP) alliance boasts to secure place for Srinagar in the ambitious list of Smart Cities, the state government has hired an allegedly “C-grade” consultant to prepare Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the summer capital.
A day after the state government finalized modalities with different stakeholders to secure place for Srinagar in the final list of Smart Cities, noted technocrat and authority on urban development Er Iftikhar Drabu raised eyebrows over the preparedness.
“I always wonder why and how J&K Government invariably ends up engaging C-grade consultants. Earlier we engaged the black listed consultant Sai for Srinagar Master Plan. Prior to that we had engaged Lehemeyer for Baglihar Project, again a consultant blacklisted by the World Bank. Just had a look at (name withheld of firm hired for DPR) website. Virtually no credentials in this area,” Drabu posted on social media.
Drabu who has been working extensively on infrastructure development projects across the world said the company which has been hired for preparation of DPR has no experience to prepare DPRs for cities as big as Srinagar.
Explaining his point, Drabu said: “The reference to Kohima in Nagaland reads like he 'managed' its inclusion in the list rather than got it on merits of its submission. And the very reference to Kohima, a beautiful hill station spread over 20 square kilometre (compared to Srinagar city with an area of over 300 square kilometres) is appalling.”
“Could SMC not find any consultant who had worked cities comparable to Srinagar whether by way of area, population, location and history,” he questioned.
The state government on September 24 held a high-level meeting under the chairmanship of Commissioner Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Hridesh Kumar to discuss the modalities for securing a place for Srinagar in the Smart Cities list.
As per an official handout, Kumar urged officers of different departments to synchronize their efforts for ensuring that the summer capital of the state makes it to the final list of Smart Cities which will be announced in January 2017.
“A presentation was made at the meeting by the consultant… engaged by Srinagar Municipal Corporation to prepare DPR for Srinagar city. The meeting was told that the firm successfully helped the Nagaland government in securing a place for Kohima in the recently announced Smart Cities list,” the handout said.
“Regarding the initial plan for preparing the DPR, a four-pronged action plan has been prepared to provide data sharing in a time-bound manner, suggestions for Smart City proposal, convergence of funds towards Smart City proposal, MoUs and resolutions for Smart City,” the handout said.
In order to expedite the process, the District Development Commissioner, Srinagar, Dr Farooq Ahmad Lone, said he will chair meetings with various departments and set up nodal officers.
Despite repeated attempts the company people could not be contacted for comments.
But a senior SMC official said the firm hired for the DPR preparation will successfully compile the report. “Size of project doesn’t matter… Just that they have worked for Kohima, they can work for Srinagar, it’s as simple as that,” the official said.
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