By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The foundation of the state’s first Shillong Government Engineering College was laid on Friday by the Chief Minister Mukul Sangma at the campus of the Shillong Polytechnic.
Expressing happiness, he said, “Believing in the simple quote of ‘where there is a will, there is a way.’ And the determination that has made it happen today.”
“We hope to complete the project in record time. Meghalaya is known to complete project before time but there are challenges that take time to resolve sometimes,” he said.
Aiming to regain the lost glory of Meghalaya being an educational hub, he said that the state government would soon lay the foundation stone of a College of Architecture and Urban Planning in Tura.
“We should make Meghalaya an educational hub. Every professional course of study should be made available in our state. We don’t want our children to be studying outside,” he added.
According to Sangma, the educational hub will also attract people from outside the state which will promote tourism.
On a lighter note, he informed the audience that when the state government compares proposals, he said the usual duration for completion of the construction for 30 kms/ 15 kms/ 1 kms and 500 m is three years.
He added, “If you can construct a 30 kms in three years, why 500 m road in three years? China is building a city in three years.”
He pointed out that even a small building of Rs 1 crore as well as a big building of Rs 10 crore also takes three years to complete.
He added, “A Rs 150 crore Shillong International Center of Performing Arts is being built in an expeditious way. We are pushing it so that we can inaugurate it by December. I don’t know if they can do it but it would be an achievement…a feather in the cap of the government.”