With traffic jams in the city at its worst ever there is a growing demand for construction of flyovers in the city to counter the traffic snarls.
Observers believe that construction of flyovers in the city is the best and only solution to negate the traffic scenario in the city which has gone from bad to worse in the past few days.
Sensing the urgent need to ease the growing traffic congestion in the city the State Government had planned to construct a flyover from Rap’s Mansion to Sweeper Lane near Iewduh and even started the land acquisition process with a sanction of Rs 3.43 crore to compensate for the land to be acquired for the project.
However, many years have gone by since the plan was first mooted but the project is yet to materialize. The only thing that has moved forward is the growing volume of traffic in the city which is increasing with each passing day.
The Shillong Times spoke to East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Jopthiaw Lyngdoh to seek information on the progress of the proposed flyover project. Lyngdoh informed that the process of land acquisition had been completed long time back, while adding, “We can safely say that land is not a problem for the project.”
However, the real problem that has been dogging the project is the issue of acquisition of land from the Defence authorities as certain portion of the proposed flyover falls under the Cantonment area which has certain installations.
The matter is currently pending with the Union Ministry of Defence.
On another front, the State Government had proposed to broaden certain stretches of the road in the city to cope with the ever-increasing traffic. The District administration has asked the Defence authorities to part with some of their land in the city for broadening the narrow roads of the city.
The State Government has asked for a total of 7.3 acres of land from the Defence authorities, who have asked for 34 acres of land near Umiam Lake in return.
It is learnt that PWD officials are on the job to assess the value of the existing structure to determine the cost of compensatory land to be offered to the Defence authorities.