Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Shoddy project management and inadequate monitoring on the part of departments or corporations concerned have caused two projects to remain incomplete for years and on, making funds spent unfruitful, besides cost escalation.
The Assam government sanctioned Rs 15 crore to Assam State Warehousing Corporation in 2012 for the construction of two cold storage facilities, one each at Sarupathar and Karimganj. The scheduled completion of the two cold storage facilities was October 2014. However, the two projects were incomplete till 2024 even after spending Rs 8.98 crore.
The corporation is trying to defend its delay on the pretext of site problems faced by the contractors. It said that the project cost would have gone up had it terminated the contract. However, after verification of the projects, the CAG found that the reply is not tenable as the corporation should have ensured that the project was completed within the original timeframe so as to prevent cost escalation. The project is still incomplete even after ten years of the issuance of the work order, leading to a blockage of funds.
The CAG observed that one year after the target of completion, the physical progress of the work was stated to be 23 percent at Sarupathar and 34.5 percent at Karimganj. The total expenditure incurred as of November 2015 worked out to be Rs 6.31 crore as against the total approved project cost of Rs 14.39 crore. The physical progress was, however, not commensurate with the financial progress in both the work as more funds were released to the contractors without the corresponding physical progress. The corporation finally terminated the contract in 2017 and decided to complete work through other agencies at the risk and cost of the contractor. However, in 2022, the corporation decided to allow the old contractors to continue the work instead of getting the work completed at the risk and cost of the contractor as decided earlier. The corporation further released an additional amount of Rs 1.93 crore to the contractor for the Karimganj project.
The CAG recommended that the corporation should take steps to get the work completed without any further delay and utilise the cold storage facilities to start generating revenue.
Also Read: Substance consumption in Assam: Alcohol tops the list
Also Watch: