Piling work in progress at RG Baruah Sports Complex in Guwahati for the National Games. Picture by Biju Boro

Guwahati, April 20: The Assam National Games secretariat technical sub-committee has approved its draft deal with the Calcutta-based Pragati Growth and Development Ltd for the construction of the athletes’ village in the Beltola area here.

“We found the draft upto the mark, but we suggested some minor modifications,” technical sub-committee chairman Nirmal Choudhury said. Five members of the panel scrutinised the draft on Sunday and Monday.

The sub-committee suggested that the athletes’ village should be ready by October 15 neat year and handed over to the Games secretariat for two months thereafter.

The village, to be modelled on a Singaporean township, will house nearly 10,000 athletes and officials in its 800 apartment blocks during the biggest multi-sport event hosted by the state, slated for November next year.

Pragati bade for the project in association with Singapore’s Surbana International (Consultants) Pvt Ltd and Sembcorp Engineers and Constructors Pvt Ltd. The consortium’s Assam unit, the Asom Pragati Infrastructure Ltd, will execute the project.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi has given his nod to the project, while advocate general Amrit Kumar Phookan had assisted during the drafting process of the agreement between the secretariat and Pragati.

Dispur will have no liability whatsoever, but get Rs 1 lakh per day if the project is not completed within the stipulated timeframe.

The village will be constructed on a 68-bigha plot of land, located 2 km from the main stadium complex at Sarusajai. The state water resources department owns the land.

Sources in the water resources department said the authorities were trying to procure apartments for its staff in lieu of the Rs 71,000 per katha of land transfer amount fixed by the district administration.

Surbana, a subsidiary of the HDB Corporation of Singapore, and Sembcorp, the $4 billion conglomerate, are pioneers in “modern planning, possess state-of-the art construction technology and are award-winners for completing urban projects” in Southeast Asia, China and Taiwan.

Pragati has several joint ventures with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, including the Curzon Park urban renewal project.