SHILLONG, MAY 10: Deputy Chief Minister in-charge PWD (Roads) Prestone Tynsong on Friday directed the deputy commissioners of East Jaintia Hills and West Jaintia Hills to constitute a dedicated committee for implementation of the project for upgradation of Umiam to Malidor National Highway road into four lane road.
The Deputy Chief Minister also informed that the committee will have members drawn from all concerned departments and representatives of NHIDCL.
“East Khasi HIlls and Ri Bhoi District have already constituted a committee and now I have instructed West Jaintia Hills and East Jaintia Hills DCs to constitute a similar committee for this project, which is very important for the state of Meghalaya,” Tynsong said.
Chairing a review meeting, the Deputy Chief Minister has informed that there is a proposal to construct about 3 tunnels along this road.
Speaking to Mediapersons, Tynsong said the length of the road along the National Highway-6 is more or less 160 to 170 kilometers.
Upgradation into four-lane road will start from the flyover at Umiam in Ri Bhoi district up to the border of Assam at Malidor in East Jaintia Hills district.
“We had a consultation and reviewed the survey of the road with the concerned departments and officials of NHIDCL, which will implement the road project,” he said.
According to him, the project is huge as it goes down to Silchar. It will cost approximately around Rs 20,000 or 22,000 crore.
Asked, the deputy chief minister informed the project has five packages in Meghalaya and the survey of the alignment is in the final stage.
“(Survey for) package I, II and III are more or less in the final stage,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tynsong said that the process of land acquisition will also start very soon. Today’s meeting was also to ensure issues related to land are resolved by the dedicated district committees.
“That is why I told East and West Jaintia Hills deputy commissioners to start constituting a committee involving all be it revenue, PWD (Road), forest department, agriculture etc -all department concerned in the district level , they will have to be members in that committee and they will resolve the issue one by one,” he added.