The construction of 6-km Smart Roads (Phase -1) in Shillong under Smart City Mission is still a distant dream as the state Government had to stall the project because of the unavailability of land.
Although the construction is not abandoned, the progress is at snail’s pace as the state Government couldn’t start the smart road project because of the lack of land.
Informing this, Deputy Chief Minister Incharge of Urban Affairs, Government of Meghalaya, Sniawbhalang Dhar said though the state Government held review meetings from time to time, the problem of land is yet to be addressed.
“Under the smart city there is one smart road, but we are yet to start the construction. It’s very difficult to implement because of lack of land. The problem is we have to widen the road; we have to make a new drainage system so the problem is with the land,” Dhar said.
“There is no land and the road is very narrow and there are poles. We have to move to MeECL. It is linked to so many departments, so many challenges.. that is why the smart road project is slow,” the Minister said.
“So we are having a review meeting from time to time on this. It seems some part of the road we have to check properly if it is possible to build or on. That what it’s not all along some parts is very narrow, that is one of the reasons that stopped the implementation of smart roads,” he added.
Although the contractor tasked with building Shillong’s smart roads was issued the work order over two years ago, the question remains will the Shillong city ever have a smart road?