Imphal, December 20 2008: THE FACT that there's not a single development project in Manipur that can be completed in time is an old story.

The latest addition to the list of development of infrastructures that seemed to remain constantly in the condition of "under-construction" is the Food Park at Nilakuthi in Imphal West district.

The development of the Food Park has been hampered due to the state government's negligence on releasing Rs 31 crores as its cost, sources in the Department of Industry told this newspaper.

After repeated discussions, the state government began construction of the Food Park in March, 2007.At least 30 acres of land were needed for the construction of the Food Park.

In order to acquire the required land, the authority had held talks with the land owners and they have already agreed to give the land, the sources said.

Once the Food Park is opened, fruit growers and farmers of the state would get a lot of benefits from it which will improve their economic conditions.

The sources further said that 65 entrepreneurs have been appointed in two batches to run the Food Park smoothly.

From amongst them, some entrepreneurs who would work diligently, would again be selected.

But all these have been hampered as the government has not released funds, the sources said.

It has been observed hat the roads inside the campus of the Food Park are yet to be asphalted.

Even works for making new roads remained stuck.

Electrification works are pending.

Construction of the balley bridge over the Imphal river has also made no further progress after erecting the pillars on both sides.

Because of all these factors, development of the Food Park still remains far from completion.

It is worth mentioning here that the Food Park will house cold storages where orange, pinapple, lime, mango, passion fruit and all other fruits and vegetables produced in the state can be stored for long period.

This will enable the growers/farmers to save their horticultural produce from getting spoiled.

There will also be a bank in the campus to facilitate the entrepreneurs and the farmers to do financial transactions for their produce.

The state government has targetted to complete the construction of the Food Park by August, 2009.However, if the construction goes on at the present rate, completion of the Food Park within the targetted deadline seems impossible.

As prices of construction materials keep rising and the longer the construction gets delayed, the higher the cost of construction will become, much more than the estimated cost of Rs 31 crores, the sources said.

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