SHILLONG, June 1: Almost three months after scrapping the agreement with Kolkata-based Kali Pradip Chaudhuri (KPC) Group for construction of the Shillong Medical College under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, the state government is now working on a new detailed project report (DPR) and is also holding consultation with some groups for construction of the medical college that has been marred by a series of delays.
Official sources told The Shillong Times that Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had recently held a meeting to discuss the project. “Once the DPR is ready, the expression of interest will be floated,” the officials said.
They, however, declined to reveal whether the state government was still interested in getting the medical college-cum-hospital constructed on PPP mode or not.
Principal Secretary, Health department, Sampath Kumar had earlier said that the agreement was scrapped as the concessionaire (KPC Group) was asking for amendments to the agreement.
“We are now going for a fresh expression of interest which will be taken up on a fast-track basis,” Kumar had said.
However, after the Meghalaya government announced termination of the concessionaire agreement with the KPC group, the firm asked the government to recall its decision and hand over the project site at the earliest to allow the firm to initiate the construction work.
The firm claimed that it had been trying for long to fulfill its commitments in terms of the concessionaire agreement but they could not commence the project due to the inability of the state government to hand over the identified project site.
“At the time of execution of the concessionaire agreement, the Meghalaya government had indicated that a plot of land measuring 29 acres in TB Hospital compound would be available for the project. The government agreed to hand over the site to us for the purpose of commencement of construction soon after execution of the agreement. But for some unknown reasons, the government failed to hand over the said project site despite repeated request from our side. Subsequently, the government communicated to us that a project site in New Shillong area has been identified for the project and requested us to visit the site,” the firm said in its written response to the Commissioner and Secretary, Health department.
The KPC official stated that the total area of the new site was less than the requisite area required for establishment of a medical college & hospital as per MCI guidelines and in order to manage the shortfall of the requisite area of land, they requested the government to allow KPC to use Ganesh Das Hospital, Shillong, as their teaching hospital.
“The government neither handed over the aforesaid plot of land to us nor took necessary steps to allow us to use Ganesh Das Hospital, Shillong, as our teaching hospital. Therefore, it cannot be considered an event of default on the part of the concessionaire as the Government of Meghalaya failed to hand over the project site to us,” the letter said.
The agreement with the KPC Group was signed in 2011-12 and later, the foundation stone for the proposed medical college was also laid on the premises of Reid Chest (TB) Hospital at Jhalupara.
However, just after all the hurdles were cleared for the implementation of the project, the government, in 2018, decided to shift the location to Umsawli in the New Shillong Township.
According to Kumar, the government wants to leverage the new NITI Aayog and the Department of Economic Affairs-supported scheme for the setting up of medical colleges on PPP mode.
Last year, a division bench of the High Court of Meghalaya had asked the government to seriously explore the possibility of setting up a medical college in the state to address the healthcare needs of the citizens.
