Hindustan Prefab pulls out of Meghalaya housing project

SHILLONG: Meghalaya government's ambitious housing project for the urban poor has suffered a major blow with Hindustan Prefab Ltd, a Delhi-based company engaged in the project, deciding to pull out due to manpower shortage.

The company engaged in building over 600 low cost dwelling units for the urban poor under the centrally-sponsored JNNURM was awarded the project in 2008.

"The company has expressed its desire to surrender the project," Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh told reporters here.

She said, based on the proposal from their end, the Meghalaya Urban Development Agency (MUDA) was directed to prepare an inventory of the project and report the same within a month to the state government.

The state government has also sought to impose penalty on Hindustan Prefab Ltd (HPL) for failing to deliver in time what they promised.

She said the project has been delayed by over 48 months which would result in project cost overrun.

The first 96 dwelling units of Phase I were completed ahead of the assembly elections in February this year. An amount of Rs 13.76 crore has been earmarked for the first phase and Rs 16.68 crore for the second phase.

HPL has utilized Rs 20.91 core so far for both the phases, of which the deadlines were August 2009 and January 2010, a senior government official said.

Rebutting the allegations of non-availability of manpower, the Urban Affairs Minister said HPL had entered into an agreement with the local village Dorbar for the supply of manpower, adding the company bargained with the labourers over wages.

Efforts to contact HPL officials here did not materialise as they did not respond to the telephone calls.