SHILLONG: The long-pending Greater Shillong Water Supply Scheme (GSWSS) Phase III is caught in a bind over cost escalation and appears set to be delayed further due to inability of the state government to release an additional amount of Rs 88 crore.
Sources informed that the PHE department had submitted the revised estimate of Rs 88 crore two years ago to the state government which has been sitting over it.
Asserting that the central government would not sanction additional funds for the project, sources who did not wish to be identified said that the PHE department was not in a position to set any deadline for the completion of the project until and unless the state government approves the revised estimate.
Informing that the project has been divided into two packages, they added there is nothing wrong in the project as work for package 1 of Phase III is going on.
Package 1 is being implemented by a firm from West Bengal and though there were hurdles like land and inter-department issues it has made good progress and most of the work has been completed.
Meanwhile, water has reached up to 6th Mile in Upper Shillong.
However, the real problem lies with package II which deals with laying of new distribution lines.
Sources said that contractors of the PHE department refused to work at the existing rate since it was finalised by the schedule of rates in 2008-2009 and until and unless the government approves the revised estimate, it would be difficult for the department to complete the project.
It may be mentioned that when implemented the third phase is expected to mitigate the present water woes faced by the residents of Shillong and the project was scheduled to be completed in June this year. The original estimated cost of the project was Rs 193.50 crore as of October 2008.
Earlier, PHE Minister Samlin Malngiang had said that the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) had agreed to provide loan to the state government for completing the project but Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma was not very convinced about availing the loan from HUDCO as he wants to approach the Centre to seek financial assistance through AMRUT for completing the project.
