Chandigarh to study reasons for Education City debacle

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 27

Unable to develop an ambitious Education City to provide world-class educational facilities at Sarangpur, the UT Administration will study the reasons for failure of the project.

Even after allotment of 150 acres for the project, the Administration has not been able to develop the Education City at Sarangpur. The two of the three educational institutions to which the land was allotted also surrendered it and only one educational institution has set up its campus there.

The Administration had decided to develop the city under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Of 150 acres, 75 acres have been reserved for private institutions in the first phase. The remaining 75 acres have been reserved for an institute of design and other professional colleges.

Under the terms and conditions, the land was to be leased out to the short-listed educational institutions for a period of 33 years, which could further be extended for another period of 33 years and the selected institutions were also required to finalise the revenue-sharing model with the authorities. However, several short-listed firms raised objections to the use of the land, said sources.

The UT Administration had shortlisted nine private institutions. Of these, only three had signed agreements for setting up their campuses at the city and the remaining six institutions did not sign the agreement.

Earlier, the city was considered as an educational hub in the region, but in the past few years, Mohali has slowly emerged as a major alternative with a number of private and public-sector educational institutions of national and international repute setting up their campuses in the district.

Taking advantage of the failure of the UT Administration to develop the Education City in Chandigarh, the Haryana Government recently announced that it would to set up a similar project in Panchkula district.

“We will examine the reasons why educational institutions have withdrawn from the project,” said UT Adviser Dharam Pal. Several other proposals also could not be materialised, he said, adding that on the basis of the analysis, they would work out a way forward.