the goan I network
MARGAO
A month after Sociedade Fomento Industrial (SFI) Ltd served a preliminary notice of termination, the Margao Municipal Council on Thursday has resolved to clear all payments to the Concessionaire as per the legal advice of the Municipal lawyer.
The MMC has further resolved to call for a joint meeting between the Margao Municipal officials, Fomento Chairman Avdut Timblo, both the MLAs, including TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai and Digambar Kamat and government officials to resolve the issues plaguing Sonsodo and the waste treatment plant.
As a first step towards the payment of dues to Fomento, the Margao Municipal Council on Thursday has resolved to release a payment of Rs 53 lakh to the company.
The issue figured prominently at Thursday’s Council meeting when Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai placed SFI’s preliminary notice of termination before the City Fathers for discussion. She explained in detail the amount of money released by the civic body to Fomento and the outstanding dues which the Municipality owes to the company as per the Concession agreement.
When Councillor Arthur D’Silva and Rupesh Mahatme sought to know from the chairperson whether the consultant has given a go-ahead signal for the payment of money to Fomento, Babita shot back saying the municipal lawyer, Adv Padiyar has recommended further release of Rs 53 lakh to the company immediately.
While reminding the City Fathers that the civic body is liable to pay the last installment to SFI, the chairperson further informed that the Municipal lawyer has recommended that the civic body clear the last installment only after Fomento clears the licence fees of the first five years.
She further directed the MMC officials to give final touches to the addendum to be signed with Fomento before clearing the last installment. “I am confident that a joint meeting between MMC officials and the Fomento chairman and the local MLAs and government representative will go a long way to resolve all outstanding issues between the civic body and SFI,” Babita added.
Fomento, which has been running the Sonsodo waste treatment plant since 2012, had raised a host of issues in the notice, including the delay in the payment of money amounting to Rs 11.45 crore and the blatant failure of the civic body to send segregated waste to the plant.
Incidentally, while SFI had asked the civic body to submit an action plan indicating the steps to be taken by the civic body to rectify the events of default, the MMC meet did not deliberate on this aspect at Thursday’s meeting.
