Despite having some anxious moments, the Chandigarh administration’s ambitious ‘Education City’ project could see the light of day within the next fortnight as some contentious issues regarding the project had been resolved, Chandigarh Home and Education Secretary Ram Niwas said.
He said that the laying of foundation stone by Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) would be done in the next few days following which work on the project would start.
The project, which envisages providing world-class education facilities in Chandigarh, had faced roadblock after some shortlisted players had raised objections over certain clauses in the project, to come up on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
In this PPP model, the administration had said that the land would be leased out for 33 years and the terms of revenue sharing would be finalised with the private partners. But a few shortlisted players wanted certain relaxations in the land-leasing period in accordance with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) norms.
The upcoming education city at Sarangpur is spread over an area of 150 acres, in which 75 acres has been reserved for private institutions in the first phase and the remaining 75 acre for an institute of design and other professional colleges.
The education secretary said the contentious issues had been resolved and the clause of mutual agreement had been put in place whereby if the shortlisted player desires relaxation in the land-lease period after 33 years, it could do so under a mutual agreement with the Chandigarh administration.
Out of the total nine shortlisted players, only three have signed the agreement for the upcoming education city. These are NMIMS, the Chitkara Education Trust of Chandigarh, and the Ramnath Goenka Memorial Trust and Media Foundation (Indian Express).
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Niwas said the remaining six players were in the process of signing the agreement.
These are DAV College Managing Committee and Fortis Health Care Ltd of New Delhi; Vile Parle Kelvani Mandal (Mumbai), Tech Mahindra Ltd (Pune), Hit Abhilashi Foundation Society in association with ILFS (Chandigarh) and Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematic, and Thapar University (Patiala).