Govt appoints designer for new Assembly

SHILLONG: Design Associates, a Noida-based designer group, has bagged the architectural design work of the new Meghalaya Legislative Assembly that will come up on the 80 acres of land at Mawdiangdiang, around 11 km from the city.
Assembly Speaker AT Mondal said on Friday the deadline set for the completion of structural design will be September.
Later, another notice inviting tender will be issued to select the contractors to construct the Assembly at a cost of Rs 95 crore.
“If everything goes well, we want to start the construction of the new Assembly from October,” the speaker said.
Earlier, as many as 13 consultants had participated in the expression of interest, out of which 11 were qualified.
However, out of the 11, only nine had made presentations before the High Powered Committee of the Assembly. Finally, the committee comprising technical experts selected Design Associates.
The Speaker said construction has been planned in two phases. In the first phase, the Assembly building and the Assembly Secretariat will be constructed along with library and press room. A sub-station for electricity and an overhead water tank have also been planned.
The time frame for the construction of the new Assembly will be 30 months.
The State Government has already allotted over Rs 20 crore and more will be allotted in the next financial year, the speaker said. In the second phase, the plan is to construct quarters for speaker, deputy speaker and other dignitaries. Besides, cottages for the MLAs and quarters for the staff will also be built.