Twin Tower Project: A progressive dream now covered in wilderness

• Image Credit: Internet

• Dec 2, 2021 | moderator

Guwahati: A mega dream of the government – Twin Tower Trade Centre project in Guwahati continues to remain in limbo as the site where the 65-storeyed building was planned to be constructed remains covered in wilderness now.

With all efforts to restart a fresh bidding for this 2,000 crore project, the State government would now have to think much larger and finalise upon a pragmatic plan.

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In February 2018, the State government signed an agreement with the NBCC (National Building Construction Company) for the twin towers project at Betkuchi in Guwahati. The NBCC is also on record as saying that the project would be completed in 60 months. Sorry to say but, not even a post has been erected at the proposed site.

More than three years have passed, but the dream of making Guwahati a gateway to Northeast for international trade through this twin tower trade centre, it seems will remain surrounded in wilderness like in its present state.

As per discussion, the entire project was supposed to have progressed with the investors constructing the twin towers at their cost on the government provided 32 bighas of land. Seeing a big ‘risk factor’ in the modality of the entire project wherein the question that hit the investors was when will such huge investment yield returns? This question led to the NBCC backing off from the project.

Even though the value of the land (32 bighas) is around Rs 100 crore as fixed by the government, it incorporated another condition that the investor will have to pay Rs 300 crore as security deposit. Such a provision will let the government get at least the land value in the event of the investor moving away from the project in the mid-way.

Many investors have sighted reasons of low economic interest as the cause behind no global investors ready to invest in this twin tower project. While the government states that the construction work has been on halt due to Covid pandemic.

The government might have forgotten about the project but the public remembers the promise the government had made in 2018 when Sarbananda Sonowal was the Chief Minister of Assam.

Problematics of constructing Twin Tower building in Guwahati: Geospatial Analysis

As soon as the deal for the Twin Tower project was inked in 2018, a section of the people raised their voices against the entire project. As Assam falls in Zone 5, a high-risk earthquake category, the construction of a 65-storeyed building will surely prove disastrous as of lately Guwahati has been witnessing episodic earthquakes.

The tallest existing structure in Guwahati has G+15 floors though the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) had in 2013 granted environmental clearance to a 20-storey apartment complex.

In totality, Guwahati also experience urban flood during the monsoon season. In accordance to the prevailing situation, a construction of such a tall building would not be viable from the scientific point of view.