Srinagar, Jun 17 (IANS): To give necessary impetus to the developmental works under the Jammu and Kashmir Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation Ltd (JKIDFC), J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday chaired a meeting and reviewed the status of the projects being executed by the corporation.

At the meeting, the Lt Governor sought a detailed progress report of the projects which have been approved for funding under the JKIDFC.

To give a push to infrastructure development in J&K, the JKIDFC aims to complete 1,235 projects costing Rs 4545.06 crore in the 2021-22 financial year.

Moreover, 1,100 projects worth Rs 1555.16 crore stand completed till date out of the 2,357 approved projects amounting to Rs 7110.78 crore.

Emphasising on transparency and accountability in the working of JKIDFC, the Lt Governor directed the concerned officials to ensure geo-tagging of each project, besides initiating payments only after prior updation of geo-tagged images of the projects.

"We need to have a long-term strategy for infrastructure investment which would play a key role in economic and social upliftment of the people. Strengthening vital infrastructure is the priority of the government," the Lt Governor said.

Sinha noted that the projects under JKIDFC were approved initially without any scrutiny of documents, which after the incorporation of the JKIMS portal were scrutinised as the payments were released only after the scrutiny of all the documents.

He further called for ensuring total transparency through the already created online platform for funding of projects, eliminating the ones which were funded without tendering, technical sanctions and other necessary documents.

While assessing the progress made in the previous financial year, the Lt Governor directed the officials to expedite the execution of projects targeted for the current fiscal. He further asked the concerned officials to stick to the deadlines formulated while preparing the target plan.

Sinha also stressed on taking requisite measures to make all information regarding the execution of the developmental works available in the public domain.

The officials were also directed to regularly monitor the execution of works for ensuring speedy execution, besides working in close synergy to avoid time lag between the funds released and their utilisation.

The chair was informed that five e-compendiums of 200, 500, 600, 800 and 1100 completed projects have been updated on the JKIDFC website.

The progress achieved by the JKIDFC also included inclusion of geo spatial software, necessary geo tagging with photographs, geo location of all physically completed projects and geo tagging with Google Earth real time imagery on the JKIDFC website, besides other new features, Sinha was informed.