Thiruvananthapuram: Work on spillover projects in the Corporation has started, even though the funds are yet to be approved by the council. Officials say that some contractors visited the main Corporation office to seek assurance regarding the passing of spillover projects. They say that no contractor has expressed any reluctance in doing the work, especially as they have signed agreements before. The delay in passing spillover projects is not likely to affect the implementation, say officials. "Contractors are never paid in advance. They are paid only after they generate bills. So work can start anyway," an official says.
The engineering wing has close to 600 spillover projects which would together cost less than Rs 80 crores, according to Corporation officials. Not all of these are road works. It also includes works such as extention of pipeline and street lights. The number of road works will be less than 200. In the past year, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation's fund utilisation was the highest in the state. It was 68.9%, whereas in the past three years it hovered around 42%. Around 15% days before March 31, the utilisation was only 26%. On March 31, had an agreement been signed on 200 public works projects, the utilisation would even have touched 80%. The utilisation is expected to further go up, as executive engineers, assistant engineers and assistant executive engineers will be made implementing officers.
