By: Ibni Maqbool
Srinagar: The World Bank (WB) has extended deadline for completion of Rs 1500 crore “Jehlum- Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP)” by one year and agreed to give extension of six more months upon achieving satisfactory progress on an action plan agreed by the project implementing entity.
Documents in possession of The Precious Kashmir reveal that the multilateral financial institution has extended deadline for completion of the project to June 30, 2022 as majority of critical infrastructure planned under it was not completed by June 30, 2021.
“Since the majority of the critical infrastructure planned is not likely to be completed by the current closing date of June 30, 2021, a two-phase extension of the closing date has been granted to extend the closing date by 12-months initially and, upon achieving satisfactory progress on an action plan, by an additional 6 months thereafter,” reads the documents.
This is the second such extension of the project whose original closing date was June 30, 2020.
According to documents, the subsequent extension till December 31, 2022 will be dependent upon the outcome of a joint performance review by Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and the Bank.
The joint review, will be scheduled in the first week of June 2022 and would assess the progress of an action plan greed between the Project Implementing Entity and the Bank.
It is worthwhile to mention that the WB sanctioned Rs 1500 crore for reconstruction of infrastructure hit by 2014 floods and strengthening State’s disaster management capabilities.
After the floods, a team of WB visited the affected areas of the State between February 1-6, 2015, to carry out a multi-sectoral assessment report of the damages and needs.
