VARANASI: For the first time in east UP, the transplantation of fully grown trees has begun to ensure that none of them gets chopped for the ground+18 floor twin buildings of the proposed integrated commissioner complex (ICC).
“The foundation stone of the ICC project worth Rs 400 crore, to be set up on a public private partnership model, will be laid in September, and the the administration has set a target to complete the entire paper work as well as the process of floating of RFP by August end,” said divisional commissioner Deepak Agrawal while disclosing the progress made in this project to TOI on Saturday.
The commissioner along with divisional forest officer of the social forestry division, Varanasi, Mahaveer Kaujalgi, camped on the commissioner’s office compound in the morning to monitor the process of transplanting big trees to vacate the land on which ICC’s twin buildings will be constructed.
The commissioner said it is for the first time in East UP when efforts are being made to ensure that no fully green tree is sacrificed for any development project.
The twin-towers project is coming on 3-acre land in the commissioner office compound spread over 6.44 acres. It will also have the first skywalk at the top floor of the twin buildings, he added.
Regarding transplantation of trees, the DFO said, “A total of 73 full grown trees have been identified for transplantation. The average age of these trees is 25 years. Apart from Ficus, many other varieties including Sagaun, Amaltash, Kachnar, Gulmohar and Mango trees are mainly being shifted to Central Jail premises, where 12 trees have already been transplanted in the past one week. Many trees are also being relocated in commissioner office premises.”
For the transplantation, a Delhi-based company has been engaged, said the DFO adding, as per the contract, this company is charging Rs 11,000 for transplantation of each tree.
“Half of this money is paid in advance while the remaining amount would be paid after one year of maintenance of the transplanted tree and ensuring its survival. With the process of transplantation, the department has also started a detailed study for utilising this method of saving trees in future projects,” he added.
About the progress in the ICC project, the commissioner said its detailed project report had been sent to the state government a week ago for approval. Total estimated cost of the project is around Rs 400 crore and the government will not spend money from its own exchequer as the project is based on the PPP model.
“After government nod is received, the process of finalising all paper works and floating RFC will be completed by August end,” said commissioner.
For better coordination between different government offices associated with the divisional commissioner and also to avoid inconvenience for people coming from neighbouring districts of the division, the ICC was sanctioned for the PM’s parliamentary constituency and Gorakhpur, the home turf of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, in the pilot project.
“A government order was received here in January,” he said adding, “the basic exercise of site selection, tentative expenditure on constructing ICC building and arranging budget on PPP model instead of depending on the state government for funds, were conducted. It was followed by the appointment of a Nagpur based firm as transactional advisor for the project.”
One tower will accommodate 44 government offices while the other will be totally commercial to generate revenue for the project and maintenance. Each tower will have a double-floor basement parking facility. Currently, offices of 12-13 departments are running in their own buildings while others are being operated at rental accommodation where their maintenance is also very poor. Only the regional sports office will not come to the ICC as the RSO office can run from the stadium.
