Jan. 30: The new masterplan for the city will be published next month, the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority said today.

Dispur has been facing mounting criticism for the inordinate delay in publication of the masterplan from pressure groups such as the All Guwahati Students’ Union (Agsu), Save Guwahati Build Guwahati, the Guwahati Senior Citizens’ Association and the Guwahati Mahanagar Unnanyan Samiti.

GMDA chief executive officer Pritam Saikia said the final print and designed copy of the masterplan for Guwahati metropolitan area 2025 was being sent by the New Delhi-based firm, Consulting Engineering Services (India) Pvt Ltd.

He said the GMDA expected to receive the copy by Monday and would then forward it to the Guwahati development department for clearance of formalities. “The masterplan will be published in February,” he added.

Dispur had selected Consulting Engineering Services (India) Pvt Ltd in November 2003, two years after the previous masterplan expired in 2001, to prepare the new masterplan. It set 2005 as the deadline to submit the plan.

Dipankar Das, an office-bearer of Agsu, said the delay exposed the double standard of the government which aimed at turning Guwahati into one of the best cities in the country but had failed to publish the masterplan even three years after the expiry of the deadline.

Saikia said the preparation of the masterplan took some time as the GDD and the GMDA took suggestions from various quarters.