Shillong, Sept 24: Transport Minister, Sniawbhalang Dhar assured that the state government would take steps to get additional land for the construction of Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) at Mawïong and complete the project by next year.
Replying to a call attention moved by opposition Congress MLA from Mawlai, PT Sawkmie in the Assembly on Monday, Dhar said the issue of availability of land in the approach to ISBT premises also hampered the progress of work since the available land width at present is only 12 meters, whereas the proposed width required at the entrance to ISBT as per design is 43 meters.
“We are taking proactive steps to get the additional land required,†he said informing that the contractor has requested for extension of time till March 2019, which has been agreed to and the implementing agency shall make all effort to complete the project on time.
The ISBT for the Shillong city was designed to cater to the need of the passengers coming from the other parts of North Eastern region and passing through the city. The project was approved in 2013 by the Ministry of DoNER at an estimated cost of Rs 48.31 crore.
The area of land acquired for the project is 53041.74 square meters and the timeline given earlier for the completion of the project by the North Eastern Council (NEC) was October 2017.
However, the minister said that the actual work commenced as per records from chief engineer (NH) PWD (Roads) only on September 4, 2014 which was due to the fact that the DPR was not made available to the implementing agency in time and floated of NIT was delayed.
Informing that Rs 23.27 crore was sanctioned in four installments by the NEC and the state government, Dhar said that the fund has already been utilized by the public works department (Roads) and physical progress of work in term of percentage is 62%.
“However, the amount yet to be sanctioned is Rs 7.77 crore,†he added.
Further highlighting the various issues faced by the department while implementing the project, the minister said in the initial stages the work was suspended for some time due to the issue of migrant labourers.
He informed that the department also had an issue with the fund flow when the requirement of funds as per the approved work programme and cash flow of the contractor could not be fulfilled by the implementing agency due to the delay in release of funds by NEC.
According to him, this delay had arisen due to the fact that the detailed structural drawing of some of the building components had not been provided by the consultant on time.
Further, there was some ambiguity in the architectural drawings of the terminal building for which the consultant had to be called time and again to site to indicate the provisions kept in the design, he added.
