SHILLONG: The State government has terminated the contract signed with the Hindustan Prefab Ltd (HPL) for construction of low cost housing units at Nongmynsong in the city and Nongpoh after the company failed to comply with the terms agreed earlier.
Informing this here on Sunday, the Principal Secretary to Urban Affairs Department P Naik said that the agreement was terminated as the firm did not want to complete the project.
The State Government has also asked the construction company to refund Rs four crore the government had released to the HPL.
The HPL was tasked with constructing 600 dwelling units for the poor in the city at Nongmynsong area in 2007 and 240 dwelling units at Nongpoh in 2009 at a total cost of Rs 3962.25 lakh.
Out of the 600 housing units, which are to be constructed under the Centrally-sponsored JNNURM Basic Service of Urban Poor (BSUP) Scheme initiated in 2007, only 96 have been completed.
Reacting to a query, Naik informed that now the department would try to complete the project within this year and necessary tenders have been floated for the project.
The State Government has set March 2016 as the deadline to complete the project.
The project was awarded to the company in 2008 at an estimated cost of Rs 30.44 crore and 48 units have been made occupied so far.