In the past three years, the Guwahati Smart City Limited (GSCL) has spent only Rs 16 crore from its allocated budget for carrying out the different necessary projects.
In order to transform Guwahati into a smart city, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – Guwahati Smart City Limited (GSCL) has been incorporated to plan, design, implement, coordinate and monitor the smart city project.
The GSCL is a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 2013 with equal shareholding from the Government of Assam.
The total proposed cost for the Guwahati Smart City project is around Rs 2,296 crore.
Out of the total proposed cost, Rs 1,579 crore has been allocated for Area Based Development (ABD) and Rs 622 crore for pan city development.
However, postponing most of the major projects of smart city development, GSCL has recently been focusing only on some projects like the Brahmaputra riverfront development, the development of Deepor Beel’s watchtower site and the setting up of LED streetlights on the city roads.
GSCL will develop Gandhi Mandap by next year. As part of the project, the GSCL has already hoisted the ‘tallest’ Tricolour atop the Gandhi Mandap.
However, after few days of the inauguration, the ‘tallest’ flag was found shredded twice.
Dispur has already ordered an enquiry into the issue of the shredding of the flag.
The GSCL also issued a show-cause notice to the Bajaj Electricals Limited, the contractor of the project, and it has already submitted a reply in this regard.
Proper site-specific study like the study of the soil capacity and the wind pressure effect was not carried out before installation of the flag, reports The Assam Tribune.
The GSCL has so far spent only on setting up smart bio-toilets and water ATMs, office maintenance, preparation of detailed project reports and other related projects.