Citizens raise a red flag over delay in Kudcemp project

Citizens have questioned the rationale behind the Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environmental Management Project (Kudcemp) in the city as preparations are under way to launch the second phase of works under the Asian Development Bank-funded scheme.

Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel had earlier alleged that works under the project were not implemented properly and vowed to make a complaint to the Lokayukta against the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) officer who was at the helm during the first phase of the project.

On Saturday, the NGO, Citizens Forum for Mangalore Development, organised the ‘Discussion meet on Mangaluru’s experience with infrastructure projects-ADB 50’ at Roshni Nilaya. M Raghavan from the NGO, Task Force on ADB Funded Loan Project, said: “Though the period of implementing the project is 20 years (2026), it’s still dragging on with just nine years left. Going at this pace, it’s not ADB that is losing, but the MCC and the people of Mangaluru.”

Ward committee

Speaking on the occasion, an RTI activist said forming a ward-level committee was inevitable to keep track of the project. Criticising Mangaluru South MLA J R Lobo, whom he saw “harping” on television about forthcoming projects, he said: “Such is the pathetic situation that the authorities are still unable to plug civic problems at the ward level.”

Citing information obtained from the authorities concerned, he said Rs 890 had been spent under Kudcemp on cutting just one square metre of grass.

‘Incompetent’ contractor

Sumit Rao, a mechanical engineer who runs an industry in the Yeyyadi Industrial Area, also criticised Lobo for “creating the mess” but stopped short of blaming it on the rotting system. He blamed a contractor Dharmaraj instead.

“I may be a mechanical engineer, but I can do better than Dharmaraj,” he insisted. He also questioned why can’t a hoarding with information on Kudcemp be erected in the city when so many advertisement boards had mushroomed all over.

Mahvash Sayed, who is associated with the Citizens Forum for Mangalore Development, said any unanswered questions on Kudcemp would raise doubts about the effective implementation of the Smart Cities project in the city.

Aloysius Albuquerque, managing director of Summer Sands Resort at Ullal, expressed concern over heavy sea erosion near Mangaluru.

Aman Ahmed and Jillian Flanagan from St Aloysius College gave a detailed presentation on the ADB-funded infrastructure projects in Mangaluru.