SHILLONG: Meghalaya Government has decided to go ahead with the Smart City project for Shillong despite various difficulties which may come up during the implementation of the project as pointed out by the Opposition on Tuesday in the State Assembly.
During the question hour, in reply to a query by P T Sawkmie (Congress), Urban and Municipal Affairs Minister Hamlet Dohling said the steps taken to materialise the Smart City Project approved on June 20 this year included to constitution of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), recruitment of manpower and delegation of financial power to SPV.
Replying to a supplementary query on funding pattern of 50:50 and the source of funding, he said Union Minister of State with Independent Charge in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri was positive to the proposal of the government in this regard when he and the Chief Minister met him in Delhi.
“We are waiting for final communication from the Ministry,” he said.
According to Dohling, there is a special provision under the union ministry of finance for the Northeastern states as per the meeting of the sub-group of chief ministers in 2015 and the funding of the core scheme can be on 90:10 or 80:20 pattern as special consideration.
Responding to a supplementary question by Ampareen Lyngdoh (Congress), Dohling said the total project cost is Rs 1039 crore.
He said the components of the project are urban mobility, clean-green livable neighbourhood, environment protection, tourism initiatives and retrofitting of existing infrastructure.
Pushed to a tight spot when more queries were raised on the funding patter, the Chief Minister admitted that the funding pattern was an issue but expressed optimism to carry on with the Smart City project for Shillong announced by the Centre.
Stating that project can be sourced on public–private partnership (PPP), build–operate–transfer (BOT) modes, he said, “Last time when we met the union minister, he gave us positive indications that they would be supporting us in different ways other than the 50: 50 share”
Later, Leader of Opposition, Mukul Sangma asked the chief minister to clarify on the term “different ways.”
Observing that the Leader of Opposition has been chief minister for eight years, Conrad said, “He knows what is meant by different ways. I don’t have to tell him.”
Mukul questions secrecy
Conrad told the opposition members that they could be rest assured that the state government was working on the project and that their meeting with the union minister was positive and there were certain confidential matters that he would not like to discuss in the Assembly.
At this point, Mukul took exception to the word, “confidential” and asked the Chief Minister on what rules of procedure and conduct of the Assembly that the chief minister is maintaining secrecy.
“It is unprecedented to withhold any information to the members. Which secrecy he is referring to?” Mukul remarked.
Conrad replied that more discussion needs to be made on the project and he cannot make any statement until the discussions fructify but maintained that the government was committed to the project.
However, an adamant Mukul asked on the section of the Assembly rule that debars the House from knowing the details of the project.
At this point, the Speaker Donkupar Roy intervened and said that the discussion on the project by the government was incomplete and there was no question of secrecy.