(Source: ET Government)

In a move to fast track the ongoing smart city projects in the state capital before 2021-22 financial year end, the Karnataka government on Wednesday announced the launch of Bengaluru Mission 2022 to ensure timely progress and completion of 35 ongoing projects in Bengaluru in the next two years.

The move is in line with the Centre’s deadline to complete the first phase of smart city projects across the country by FY22. However, with the current Covid-19 pandemic outbreak the Centre has extended the project deadline by five months.

Some of the key smart city mission projects stuck in the state capital include Koramangala flyover, signal free corridors and installation of LED street lights in the city.

The Karnataka government has meanwhile, formed two committees to ensure seamless and timely implementation of 35 programmes. While one committee will be chaired by chief minister BS Yediyurappa himself, the other monitoring committee, headed by the state chief secretary, will meet once a week to review the progress.

According to the top state government sources, these meetings are likely to help in clearing the approvals without any delay, make important decisions pertaining to the project implementation and prepare a plan of action. The apex committee, chaired by the CM, will meet every 15 days.

Some of the key projects to be fast tracked under Bengaluru Mission 2022 include improvement of 12 high density corridors (190 km) by Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd, faster completion of roads taken up under Smart City works, annual maintenance contract for arterial roads (400 km), enhancing road appearance by undertaking kerbstone painting and lane markings, and installation of synchronous signal lights.

As per the state government notification, ministers from different departments including IT&BT, heavy and medium industries, revenue, primary and secondary education, co-operation, housing and urban development will be part of the committee headed by the CM. The committee headed by the state chief secretary will have senior officials heading about 20 departments as its members.

The Commissioner of BBMP has been appointed as the member secretary of the meeting, a post responsible for conducting meetings, distributing meeting agenda and draft proceedings. Among the 35 programs announced by the CM recently, most of them have been currently under implementation. The state government has assured that these projects, including the suburban rail network, will be completed in the next two years, which is an ambitious target.

Programs proposed towards integrated city waste management system include the creation of a specialised entity for waste management, rehabilitation of existing processing plants, remediation of legacy dump sites