Avtar Bhat
Jammu, Nov 2: The much talked about Jammu International Convention Centre (JICC) on which working is going on for the last 17 years will miss another deadline as the project will not be commissioned by December this year too as was stated by the authorities earlier.
According to sources, the Jammuites have to wait for some time more as the project has not been completed as yet and its construction will take a few months more.
Though the work on this presitigious project was started way back in 1998 during the Dr Farooq Abdullah’s Government, sources said the Project will not be ready for commissioning by the ending December this year as was stated by the authorities entrusted with the job of its construction and it may take several months more in completion as about 10 to 20 percent of the work is yet to be completed.
Sources said the constant delay in construction of Rs. 24.61 crore project shows total inefficiency and lethargy of the authorities at the helm of affairs as they could not complete the project in a stipulated time frame.
Sources said the main cause of delay was that those at the helm of affairs were not interested that the project be completed in a stipulated time frame from the beginning and hence they diverted the funds for other works for years together after abandoning the work on this prestigious project.
Sources said the Hospitality and Protocol Department, which was constructing the Project, is going to re-tender the finishing works after terminating the old contractors as they have abandoned the work creating a humiliating situation for the Department.
It is not for the first time that the agency is terminating the contracts but several times in past tooo both civil and electricity contracts were terminated by the concerned agency, sources added.
Sources said Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, who visited the construction site some days back, also took strong exception to the constant delay in its construction and issued directives to the concerned authorties to expedite the work and complete it as early as possible.
Putting the officers on tenterhooks they have now decided to terminate the contractors by calling fresh tenders for finishing works, sources added.
It may be recalled that after the Excelsior highlighted the issue regarding constant delay in the construction of the Jammu ICC some years back, the authorities re-started work on it which as abandoned for several years due to certain reasons, when the Omar Abdullah took over as Chief Minister of the State in 2008.
Resentment is brewing among the people of Jammu region over the constant dealy in construction of this prestigious project. Accusing the Government of double standards, the people of Jammu want to know why the project has been delayed for near about two decades when the SKICC, Srinagar was constructed in record time and there was no dealy in its construction nor any funds constraint was faced by it.
The Project received initial hitches as the security forces who were camping at its site did not agree to leave and it took them complete two years to leave the site and handover it to Hospitality and Protocol Department to start construction.
Admitting that the project may miss the dead line this time again, Director Hospitality and Protocol Farooq Hussain Ganai told Excelsior that the Department will do its utmost to complete the project by December 31 but it can be delayed by some time also as some contracts are to be terminated and fresh allotments are to be made.
He said JICC is almost complete but 10 to 20 percent finishing work are to be completed and the Department is on the job.
The centrally air condititioned ICC Jammu has a seating capacity of 400 people. In addition to two seminar halls, it has a VIP lounge, Chief Minister’s room, restaurant, cafeteria and an exhibition center and a business center.
However, sources said, there was many allegations over the delaying of the project and one among them was the earlier Finance Ministry dealyed the allocation of funds and there was lack of interest in completion of project in time that funds allocated were deliberately diverted for other works by the Government earlier.
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