SHILLONG: The state government has issued a show-cause notice to a lessee for violating the terms and conditions of an agreement signed for the construction of a building on a plot owned by the Shillong Municipal Board in Jail Road.
The decision to issue the notice was made after the lessee failed to pay rent to the state government. The lessee was given three months’ time to comply with the agreement. According to the agreement, the land measuring 71,649.58 sq ft was leased out to HM Cements Ltd for a period of 30 years.
Urban Affairs Minister Hamletson Dohling said that HM Cements was supposed to pay Rs 2.50 crore annually to the state government as rent. “However, from 2013 onwards, the company did not pay the lease amount and therefore we decided to issue a show cause notice on June 13 directing the company to make amends by clearing the pending dues immediately,” he said.
The minister also said the company has failed to complete the project within the stipulated time. The building, which was constructed since 2010, was scheduled for completion in 2012.
The under-construction building will house a five-star hotel, shopping complex, parking lot and the office of the Shillong Municipal Board. Dohling said the step taken by the department was also to ensure that shifting of the Shillong Municipal Board’s temporary office to the new building could be done at the earliest.
The minister informed that the reason cited by the lessee for not completing the project on time was the delay on the part of the government to hand over the entire land to the company.
“However, the fact is that we have already handed over 90 per cent of the land, which is 62,890.80 sq ft out of 71,649.58 sq ft to the lessee,” he said.
On the progress of work, the minister said almost 90 per cent of the construction work has been completed while only the finishing job remained.
“The lessee would require about Rs 40crore to Rs 45crore complete the project,” he said, while adding that the pending work would require not less than six months to complete.
Meanwhile, official sources informed that the government might float fresh tender to allow interested firm to take over and complete the project.
