By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: After an interminable delay, the independent technical committee which was set up to screen the revised estimated budget of Kolkata Meghalaya House project has finally submitted its report.
The State Government was compelled to constitute the committee after the estimated budget for the Meghalaya House escalated from the initial Rs 24 crore to Rs 50 crore.
Sources from the state General Administration Department(GAD) said that the report of the committee would now be placed before the Cabinet for its consideration.
The independent committee is headed by the chief engineer of the water resources department as the chairman besides five other members.
The committee was formed after it was found that an additional amount of Rs 26 crore was poured in for the construction of the Meghalaya House in Russell Street, Kolkata.
“The report will be brought before the cabinet in its next sitting which is probably this week,” an official from the GAD informed.
It may be mentioned that the project has been delayed on several occasions which has further escalated the cost of the much awaited project which was initiated in October 2006.
Earlier, even PWD(Building) which is implementing the project was asked to justify the escalation.
The whopping escalation of amount is mainly due to extension of the project even as the design was changed several times with every change of guard in the General Administrative Department.
The new building will have three blocks which include the residential section, VIP rooms and commercial establishments and it is expected that the Government will earn monthly revenue of Rs 25 lakh through the rent from the commercial block.