The Statesman 11.06.2013
KMC occupies 2 acres to construct flats
Corporation today took possession of two acres on Canal South Road,
which had been occupied by a private company.
In order to occupy
the land the private company had put up a boundary wall around the land
and the KMC was unaware of this, a senior civic official said.
The
civic body demolished the boundary wall. Member, mayor-in-council Mr
Swapan Samadder along with senior officials went to the spot this
morning to supervise the operation.
The KMC will begin
constructing flats on the land under the Basic Services for Urban Poor
project. In 2009, the civic body had received the land from Kolkata
Improvement Trust.
The KMC failed to find a contractor to
construct the flats even after floating tender several times in the past
four years. The project was initiated by the civic body in 2008 and the
cost has escalated by 60 per cent owing to delay.
The civic
body has selected a bidder who will construct the flats, said Mr
Samadder. Twenty five, five-storied buildings will come up on the plot.
The construction of the flats will start next week and is likely to be
completed within a year. The civic body has taken four years to start
construction of the flats on Canal South Road due to its faulty
planning, lack of foresight and lackadaisical attitude, a civic official
said. This Rs 41-crore project was taken up under the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission scheme.