Land Issue Cripples Construction of ‘Twin Tower’ Trade Centre

CAN ASSAM BECOME AN INVESTMENT DESTINATION?

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Right from organizing the Global Investors Summit in 2018 to the recent India-Bangladesh Stakeholders’ Meet in the city, Dispur is making tall claims to convert the State into an investment destination by rolling out various schemes to attract investors from India as well abroad.

But the ground reality has punctured Dispur’s tall claims. Forget about facilitating outside investors and industries to launch big project without facing any hassle, the Industries and Commerce department is in a fix to go ahead with its dream project to set up a 65-storey ‘Twin Tower’ trade centre in the city due to lack of consensus of concerned departments to allot land for the project.

On February 2, 2018 the State Government had inked a deal with the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) for setting up the ‘Twin Tower’ trade centre on a 30-bigha plot at Basistha Chariali along the NH-37 in the city.

On July 18, 2018 religious rituals were conducted at the project site to start construction of the ‘Twin Tower’ trade centre at an estimated cost of Rs 1900 crore and complete the same within 60 months (5 years).

Now more than 15 months after not a single brick has been laid for the ‘Twin Tower’ due to an issue related to land allotted for the project.

Sources said the land issue has for the ‘Twin Tower’ project has arisen after the NBCC sought ownership of the plot. The NBCC has made it clear that it cannot go ahead with construction of the ‘Twin Tower’ unless it possesses the ownership right over the plot allotted for the project. When the Industries & Commerce department moved the concerned departments to settle the land issue, the revenue and finance departments told the former to pay Rs 200 crore as premium as value of the plot so that the NBCC could acquire ownership.

“Going by the present official rates of land, the value of the plot at Basistha Chariali stands at Rs 200 crore. Now as per the official rules, the Industries & Commerce department has to pay Rs 200 crore as premium to make the NBCC as an owner of the plot. The development has angered the Industries and Commerce department and it has refused to pay the premium,” the source said.

Even though the land issue could be solved through consensus of concerned departments, execution of the ‘Twin Tower’ project has not moved an inch as the government departments are remaining adamant and sticking to their points.

The development is set to send wrong signals particularly to prospective investors. “If the government’s own project can hang in balance due to a land issue, how could it expect to ensure ease of doing business for private players and investors,” an entrepreneur questioned.

The entrepreneur said it is high time for the State Government to assess the ground situation before building castle in the air to make Assam an investment destination for India as well South East Asian countries.

Also Read: Dispur’s Dream Project Twin Tower Trade Center in Limbo

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