SHILLONG: Meghalaya’s long-pending dream of having a permanent Assembly building is set to be delayed further after the High Powered Committee (HPC) on the Construction of new Assembly building on Thursday decided to scrap the tender for the construction of the new Assembly building at Mawdiandiang.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting of the High Powered Committee here on Thursday, Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Speaker, AT Mondal informed that PWD recently opened the price bid after three firms qualified in the technical bidding including Simplex Infrastructure Pvt ltd, Gautam construction Pvt ltd and Shapoorji Pallonji Co. & Ltd.
According to Mondal, the bid value was Rs 105 crores and Shapoorji Pallonji Co. & Ltd. quoted price 29.92 per cent more than bid value and even Simplex Infrastructure quoted 21.90 per cent more of the bid value.
The Gautam Construction on the other hand quoted 15.01 per cent less than the bid value.
The PWD department later asked the lowest bidding firm to justify if the firm can complete the work within the quoted bid value and after analysing, PWD suggested that the firm would not be possible to complete the project at a low bidding cost considering the escalation of market value, impact of new taxes
“The Committee on Thursday felt that the rate of Gautam Construction company is too low and it would not be possible for the firm to do justice with the project keeping in view quality control and other related issues,” he said.
The HPC has now asked PWD to go for fresh tenders at the earliest
The proposed location for the new Assembly building was changed to multiple locations. In absence of a permanent Assembly complex all these years, assembly sessions were earlier held at the state’s central library auditorium and later it was shifted to arts and culture auditorium within the premises of Brookside in Rilbong.
It has been sixteen long years since 125-year-old Burmese teak Meghalaya Legislative Assembly building located at Khyndailad was reduced to ashes in 2001 but the state is yet to have a new building