MARGAO, FEB 1
After months of hard bargaining and negotiations, the Margao Municipal Council and Fomento on Tuesday finally inked the Concession agreement towards the setting up of the waste treatment plant at the Sonsodo site.
After putting his signature on the agreement, Margao Municipal Chief Officer Prasanna Acharya said that Fomento has been set a deadline of one year to set up the plant and commence operations, but hastened to add that the Civic body would ensure the project gets underway well ahead of the deadline.
Margao Municipal Chairperson Sushila Naik, her deputy Gonzaco Rebello and Councilor Arthur D’Silva also put their signatures on the agreement as witnesses.
As per the agreement, the Margao Civic body is required to making the one time payment of Rs 7.31 crore to Fomento within six months of the signing of the agreement. In this connection, the Margao Civic body has resolved to ask the government to sanction grant in aid of Rs 7.31 crore to make the payments. The Civic body has so far received around Rs 3.60 crore from the government towards solid waste management and the government is expected to sanction the balance amount as per the promise made by Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat.
As per the agreement, Fomento is required to furnish to the MMC an unconditional irrevocable bank guarantee of Rs two crore within 30 days of the agreement. The bank guarantee is to be discharged no sooner the company completes work on the construction of the plant and machinery at the stie.
The company is also required to submit a performance security to the Civic body by way of an irrevocable bank guarantee for Rs 50 lakh and maintain such performance security for the Concession period or till the termination date.
Questions are raised whether the bank guarantee of Rs two crore is adequate when the Civic body has resolved to make one time payment of Rs 7.31 crore, more so when the company is expected to work at the site for the next 25 years.
This question has assumed more significance in the light of the bitter experience with Hyderabad-based Hyquip Projects, but the powers that be has dismissed the question saying that Fomento is a Goan company and will not run away from the state by abandoning the project midway.
