67,000 MORE UNITS TO BE BUILT AT A COST OF Rs 9396 CRORES New Delhi,22 May:In a bid to alleviate the working condition of Service personnel, the Union Cabinet today approved the construction of nearly 67,000 dwelling units at an estimated cost of Rs 9396 crores in the Phase –II of the Married Accommodation Project.
Out of this, over 58,000 will be for the Army whereas 5238 will be for the IAF and 3107 for the Navy. To be completed by 31 March 2012, today’s decision will help the Ministry of Defence to achieve its objective of providing married accommodation to the defence services within the targeted time. The project will provide a major fillip to a large number of jawans and officers by enabling them to stay with their families in many locations, thereby reducing their stress level as has been pointed out in several studies conducted by various agencies. The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony had shown keen interest in the project after visiting and interacting with jawans in various far flung areas of the country.
All work under the Phase-II of the Project will be executed through open competitive bidding to make the process fair and transparent. The new process would also reduce costs, as 7% charge payable to PSUs earlier would not be admissible. The delegation of enhanced financial powers to the three committees e.g., the Apex Steering Committee (ASC), Vice Chief’s Committees (VCC) and Command Committees (CC), as in the case of Phase – I will continue because this has been found to be adequate. The sanction of projects of the value of work exceeding Rs 50 crores has been vested with the ASC whereas for VCC it is between Rs 20 and 50 crores. All projects below value of Rs 20 crores can be sanctioned by the Command Committees.
It may be recalled that the Cabinet had given its in-principle approval in September 2001 to the programme of construction of 3 lakh houses which are to be completed by the end of this year.
Under Phase One, 10,637 dwelling units have already been completed. Out of 86 stations, 100% work has been completed at 17 stations. The progress of work is between 75% to 99% at 35 stations and 50 to 75% at 16 stations. Nearly Rs 3465 crores have been spent for the project so far.