Jowai-Malidor road work hits land hurdle

SHILLONG: The ongoing construction work on the 102-kilometer Jowai-Malidor road is yet to pick up pace due to the inability of the State Government to provide land to the implementing agency.
Official sources have informed that only 10 per cent of the total work could be completed so far due to unavailability of land. The work was supposed to begin in 2014 but started only earlier this year due to several reasons. At this juncture unavailability of land has compelled the implementing agency to restrict its work to around 25 kms of the National Highway 44 from Jowai in West Jaintia Hills to Malidor on the Meghalaya-Assam border.
Though the project has not been able to make much progress, the implementing firm sounds optimistic about its completion before the scheduled deadline of May 2018 depending on the availability of land.
Reacting to a query on the condition of the dilapidated patches of the road in Malidor, official sources informed that most of the stretches in the area have been repaired and the potholes in the bridge and the tunnel have also been filled up.
“Around 5-6 kilometers of road in the last stretch (of Malidor) is still in bad shape and will be repaired after the rainy season,” official sources said.
It may be mentioned that the expansion work of the arterial NH 44 has been approved under Phase III of the National Highway Development Programme at an estimated budget of Rs 452 crore.
The up gradation of the road assumes significance since the NH 44 is a lifeline for at least a couple of Northeastern states.