SHILLONG: The High Powered Committee (HPC) on construction of the new Meghalaya Legislative Assembly building on Thursday awarded the work to a Uttar Pradesh PSU.
Chief minister Conrad Sangma said Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited has been selected to construct the building at Mawdiangdiang.
“We now hope that the construction will begin shortly”, he said.
The estimate budget for the building was Rs 145 crore, but the firm has quoted Rs 127 crore for the work.
The work is scheduled to be completed in three years.
The chief minister said the government would mobilise resources for the purpose from its own sources, central government and different financial agencies.
“We are looking to get loans from some financial agencies at reasonable rates,” he said adding the government has already helddiscussions with them and things are at the final stage.
The initial funds will be managed by the state government.
Opposition leader and a member of the HPC, Mukul Sangma, expressed happiness over the selection of the firm. He said the HPC would urge the government to constitute an independent quality monitoring committee to ensure quality construction. He said the committee would frequently visit the site to take stock.
He also expressed confidence that the new assembly building would be constructed before the 2023 assembly elections.
The proposed location of the building was changed on multiple occasions until the government finally zeroed in on an 80-acre plot at Mawdiangdiang. The HPC has already approved the building design.
The state has been awaiting the new Assembly building for the past 17 years after the 125-year-old Burmese teak-made structure at Khyndailad was reduced to ashes in a devastating fire.
The HPC of the Meghalaya Assembly in the year 2017 under the previous government was forced to scrap a bid as it was over 15 per cent lower than the bid value.
Earlier, PWD had opened the price bid after three firms — Simplex Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, Gautam Construction Pvt Ltd and Shapoorji Pallonji Co & Ltd — qualified in the technical bidding.
