Construction of two major sewerage projects in the twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar has been awaiting completion for many years now. The work on the project was started in March 2008 under the Urban Infrastructure and Development Scheme (UIG) of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The State Housing and Urban Development (HoUD) Department is overseeing the implementation of the projects which is being executed by the National Buildings Construction Corporations Ltd (NBCC). The HoUD has said in its official report that the pace of execution was slow due to shifting and realigning of utilities, site clearance and extremely narrow and congested areas of the old city. The overall physical progress achieved with regard to sewerage projects in Jammu and Srinagar stands at 40 per cent and 45 per cent respectively. A sewerage treatment plant of 27 million litre daily (MLD) capacity is about to complete in Jammu which is part of the project. For Srinagar, a 60 MLD capacity sewage treatment plant is being constructed with 60 per cent work having being completed. The budget allocations by the Central government for the two sewerage systems are Rs 129.23 crore and Rs 132.92 crore respectively. Besides construction of two plants in these cities, sewerage projects also include laying of trunk, lateral and raider sewer lines across major residential and commercial areas there and also providing house connections. The house connections phase will be taken up only after major sewerage lines are laid down which is a difficult part because of traffic congestion in commercial areas and limited space availability in residential areas of the old city, the official report says. In Jammu, sewer lines are being laid in 55.83 kilometers of the city connected to more than 30,000 homes. In Srinagar, the sewer lines will be connected to 48,000 homes spread across 143.8 kilometer area. The HoUD has set 30 September, 2013 and 31 March, 2014 deadline for the sewerage project completion in Jammu and Srinagar respectively. Hanging fire for years The work on two plants in Jammu and Srinagar was started in March 2008 Official report says the pace of execution was slow due to shifting and realigning of utilities and site clearance The overall physical progress of project is 40 per cent in Jammu and 45 per cent in Srinagar