SHILLONG: The New Shillong Township (NST) Project, which aims to de-congest the city, is progressing though at a snail’s pace.
A visit to the project site, which covers a huge area, shows that only a few government projects have started and others are yet to begin though land has been allotted to different agencies and departments.
It was also seen that the road connecting the proposed New Shillong is still narrow and broken, which makes one wonder when the basic amenities will come up in the proposed township.
However, some internal roads have been constructed.
Due to poor connectivity, public transport goes only till NEIGRIHMS and NEIAH. Besides, there are no street lights in the locality. The idea of NST was conceived long back to decongest the city and different structures like IIM Shillong, NIFT, Meghalaya Assembly, Information Technology park, Urban park, Shillong International Centre for Performing Arts and Culture, Government Guest Houses of Nagaland and Mizoram, Reid Chest Hospital, Hindi institute, English and Foreign Language University are lined up to be developed in the new township area.
With the decision to construct sports infrastructure in an area over 300 acres for the National Games 2022, it will be interesting to see if the government intensifies the pace of the projects or they continue to move sluggishly.
Taking into account the congestion in the city, the proposed New Shillong Township is perhaps the only way forward, even if temporarily, to resolve the problems. Though the land acquisition for the project started way back in 1995, the township is yet to take a proper shape.
