Government initiates steps to complete Civil Sectt with loan
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 15 2020:
The State Government has been working to complete the construction work of the Civil Secretariat by taking loans from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO).
Notably, the construction work of the Civil Secretariat at Chingmeirong Lei Ingkhol started during the time of ex-Chief Minister Okram Ibobi and Simplex Project was the work agency of the particular project.
But the State Government took away the project from Simplex Project on the ground that it could not complete it in time and initiated due process to hand over the project to another firm.
According to information received from PWD (Building Division), construction work of the Civil Secretariat has been halted completely.
Contending that the portions of the Civil Secretariat it had already completed were measured by PWD alone in their absence, the Simplex Project filed a petition at the High Court of Manipur.
With a case pending at the High Court, the construction work could not proceed until the same case is disposed, said the source.
Nonetheless, due process has been initiated to complete the Civil Secretariat construction work as soon as the pending case is disposed.
It is being estimated that construction of the incomplete portions may take around Rs 150 crore.
As such, a proposal has been sent to HUDCO for a loan of Rs 150 crore but the loan has not been sanctioned as yet, conveyed the source.
Another source informed that even though the current financial position of the State Government is not very sound, it has not yet deteriorated to the stage of overdraft.
Apart from paying monthly salaries and pensions to employees/retired employees, the Government has been spending a huge amount on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although some development programmes are also taken up, office expenditures, tour programmes, foreign travels, purchase of vehicles etc have been either trimmed or prohibited, added the source.