SHILLONG, Aug 8: The General Administration department has handed over a plot of land, measuring 20,000 sq ft, to the Urban Affairs department for the construction of the permanent office of Shillong Municipal Board (SMB).
The land is located at Bivar Road and near the National People’s Party office, which is under construction. A senior official of the state government said the land was handed over following a joint inspection of the site by the two departments.
According to the conditions to be laid down in the new agreement with Maxim Infrastructure & Real Estate Pvt Ltd for the completion of the five-star hotel project at Jail Road, the firm would need to build the office of SMB at the 20,000 sq ft land.
The SMB was supposed to have an office space in one of the floors of the five-star hotel according to the earlier agreement. The official said the SMB will earn revenues on a monthly basis from the office space at the five-star hotel.
Meanwhile, the Urban Affairs department is still preparing the new agreement to be signed with the firm. Once prepared, it will be sent to the Law department for examination.
“We are going to sign the agreement with the new firm once it is approved by the Law department,” the official said.
The state Cabinet had on July 19 decided to scrap the earlier agreement for the five-star Marriott hotel project and ink a fresh 30-year agreement with the new firm for completing the project.
Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma had earlier said the previous party defaulted on loan following which the National Company Law Tribunal took over the project.
“The new firm got the project through a fair bidding process,” he had stated.
The development requires the government to sign a new lease agreement with the new firm. Both parties have already discussed some terms and conditions.
The discussion revolved around handing over the 71,000 sq ft of land to the firm. It was learnt the firm did not want to pay outstanding dues of Rs 2.5 crore of the first lessee. The government did not agree to this but decided to provide some relaxation as regards interest and the timeframe to clear the dues.
