Airport work

IMPHAL, May 16: Certain errors on the part of the Manipur Tribal Development Corporation (MTDC) Limited have been reportedly hindering development work of Imphal airport.
The way MTDC Ltd and a private construction company implemented the development work of Arunachal Pradesh’s Tezu Airport was found unsatisfactory to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and its repercussions are being felt at Imphal.
Sources informed that MTDC Ltd and AAI signed an MoU of Rs 38.41 crore on April 8, 2016 for construction of Tezu Airport’s terminal building and other related works.
AAI deposited an amount of Rs 9.60 crore with the MTDC Ltd in 2016 itself and MTDC Ltd handed over the construction work to NM Construction, a private firm based at Imphal.
As NM Construction was making little progress, the MoU signed between AAI and MTDC Ltd was annulled on July 31, 2018. The construction work already executed by NM Construction was jointly measured by AAI and MTDC Ltd and the two sides agreed that the cost of construction was Rs 6.97 crore approximately which means Rs 2.62 crore was still unutilised.
Notably, AAI released Rs   9.60 crore in the first instalment and they were asking MTDC Ltd to return the unutilised amount of Rs 2.62 crore, said the sources.
On the other hand, one engineer of MTDC Ltd handed over Rs 2.66 crore to NM Construction in 2016 as mobilisation advance in connection with the development work of Tezu Airport. Later, after investigation it was found that the mobilisation advance was released based on forged bank guarantee bond and banker cheque.
Subsequently, MTDC Ltd recovered Rs 1.54 crore from NM Construction. But the remaining amount of Rs 1.12 crore and another Rs 1.48 crore released to the same private construction firm for excess works have not been recovered yet.    At the same time, there are suspicions that the MTDC Ltd, bank and the private construction firm acted in collusion while withdrawing the amount of Rs 2.66 crore using forged bank documents, said the sources. Now, apart from forfeiting AAI’s trust because of MTDC Ltd’s negligence or incompetency, development works of Imphal airport have been delayed.
Notably, some development works of Imphal airport are being handled by MTDC Ltd.
Following cancellation of the MoU signed for the development work of Tezu Airport, MTDC Ltd has a misgiving that the Imphal airport works may also be suspended.
As such, MTDC Ltd has not been paying liabilities of sub-contractors which subsequently hinders the development work of Imphal airport, the sources added.