3 days Ago
Ludhiana: On the one hand civic body officials are claiming to complete pending projects under the smart city mission by the end of March 2025 — a deadline fixed by the Centre for all cities covered under the scheme — while on the other, the projects taken up at the last stage are yet to take off at the ground level. Projects such as the transformation of Nehru Rose Garden, a bridge at Sidhwan canal and a bridge at Buddha Dariya are still at the tendering stage. Not So Soon It was after a decade, the exercise to transform the Nehru Rose Garden was started.
Authorities have recently floated tenders to give a recent look to the Rose Garden. The project is estimated at around Rs 8.80 crore.
After the project's completion, the contractor must maintain the Rose Garden for one year. The facelifting will include fancy lights, an open gym, toilets and a kids' play area for children's entertainment. Officials claimed apart from roses, 91 varieties of fresh flowers and fruit trees will be planted.
To give it the latest look, landscaping will be done. MLA Gurpreet Gogi had also promised to develop a mini zoo in Rose Garden but several approvals are pending for the same. So Near Yet So Far Similarly, the tenders issued for the construction of two bridges proposed on Sidhwan Canal and Buddha Dariya are also stuck.
The first tender was not successful. Now the tender has been issued for the second time. To reduce traffic pressure in the inner areas of the city, the Municipal Corporation Ludhiana had planned to build new big bridges in different areas on Budha Dariya and Sidhwan Canal.
Funds for these projects have been arranged from Ludhiana Smart City Mission . The key issue regarding these projects is the central govt has issued a deadline to complete the ongoing and proposed development work by March end. In such a situation, doubts have arisen regarding the construction of the proposed bridges near Lohara on Sidhwan Canal and Gaughat on Buddha Dariya.
The proposed bridge on Sidhwan Canal is estimated to cost around Rs 11.96 crore. Although the firms gave importance to this project, they were not found capable in the technical bid.
At the same time, they did not show interest in building a bridge on Buddha Dariya on Gaughat Road. The estimated cost of this project is around Rs 2 crore. Now the corporation officials have issued fresh tenders for these works.
One of the MC officials claimed they have earmarked funds for these projects and are trying to allot the work as soon as possible, since their objective is to complete the projects on time. This is not the first time that the construction of bridges has been delayed. When proposals were made to construct bridges and sent to Chandigarh headquarters, the chief engineer objected to them.
Out of these projects, only the tender for constructing bridges on the Buddha Dariya in the east constituency has started..
