NEW DELHI: Giving a free hand to the states, Union territories and the urban local bodies in proposing and approving projects under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the government today set an investment target of Rs 42,512 crore from the private sector in the overall Rs 62,000-crore project.
Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has preferred this decentralization to augment capacities of urban local bodies (ULBs), besides enabling quicker implementation of the Mission, under which cleanliness is to be ensured by the year 2019, an official release said here.
The Mission, launched by Prime Minister Narendra on October 2, which is to be implemented in all the 4,041 statutory towns and cities across the country, seeks to eliminate open defecation and manual scavenging, besides promoting modern and scientific municipal solid waste management.
As per the implementation guidelines approved by the Minister, ULBs and state/UT governments have now been fully empowered to propose and approve the projects, it said.
While ULBs have been authorized to prepare, sanction and implement projects in respect of constructing individual household toilets besides community and public toilets, under the broad directions of state/UT governments, the solid waste management project proposals of ULBs will be approved by state/UT governments, the release said.
Also, while the central government will provide Rs 14,623 crore for the project, the states/UTs would be required to contribute Rs 4,874 crore, it said.
The government also said that under the different components of the Mission in urban areas, states would make a matching contribution of 25 per cent of the share of central government.
This share in respect of North-Eastern and Special Category States would be 10 per cent of the central share, it said, adding, accordingly, a private investment of Rs 42,512 crore is being targeted under the Mission in urban areas.
Moreover, the central government will provide an incentive of Rs 4,000 for each individual household toilet to be built, 40 per cent as grant or viability gap fund for community toilets and 20 per cent grant/VGF for solid waste management projects.
Public toilets will be built entirely with private investment, the release said.
According to the government, to finance building of public toilets, states and ULBs would identify land and leverage the same and advertisements to encourage private sector investments for construction and maintenance through PPP agreement.
Besides, 20 per cent of central share (Rs 2,924 crore) has been earmarked as performance fund out of which allocation will be made to performing states/UTs based on physical performance in respect of states objectives, the release said.–PTI
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