The Amritsar Municipal Corporation on Thursday reviewed the progress of the Punjab Municipal Services Improvement Project (PMSIP), being implemented with financial support from the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, with officials claiming that key components of the project, including digitisation of civic records and the Amritsar Bulk Water Supply Scheme, were progressing at an accelerated pace.
The review meeting was chaired by Additional Commissioner Dr Jai Inder Singh. Officials of the Municipal Corporation and representatives of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the executing agency for parts of the project, attended the meeting.
Officials informed the meeting that digitisation of old municipal records had already commenced, with birth and death records being taken up on priority. The records are being digitised at a quality standard of 300 DPI to ensure long-term preservation and accessibility.
The meeting was also informed that around 33 per cent work related to installation of compactors for scientific storage and management of old municipal records had been completed. Officials said the system would help streamline future record maintenance and retrieval.
Reviewing the GIS-based property survey component, officials stated that around 42 surveyors had been deployed in the field, leading to a substantial increase in survey speed. On average, nearly 800 to 1,000 properties are now being surveyed daily, they said.
During the review of the Amritsar Bulk Water Supply Scheme (ABWSS), L&T officials informed that work on the project was progressing rapidly and water from the Upper Bari Doab Canal was expected to start filling the raw water reservoir at the Vallah Water Treatment Plant by the end of June to facilitate testing operations.
The company informed that Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) had completed installation of poles for the 66 KV transmission line required for power supply to the plant, while the work of laying transmission wires was expected to begin shortly.
Dr Jai Inder Singh directed the executing agency to ensure timely completion of the project and instructed officials to closely monitor the pace and quality of work so that canal water supply could commence by the end of the year.
