SHILLONG: After a long wait of 18 years, the dream of the state to have its permanent Assembly building will be fulfilled soon as the construction of the new Assembly building at Mawdiangdiang in New Shillong Township is going on in full swing.
The construction of the project began on June 15 following the issuing of the work order by the Meghalaya Government to the Uttar Pradesh Government based Public Sector Understanding, Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd.
The need for the new Assembly Building came as the 125-year-old structure that housed the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly at Kyndaild was razed to the ground in a devastating fire in 2001.Since then the state is has been without a permanent Assembly building.
A visit by a group of reporters to the site revealed that the work was going on at a very fast pace.
Speaking to reporters on the status of the project, PWD (buildings) Executive Engineer, R. Sutnga informed that the new Assembly building will comprise of the basement, ground floor, first floor and second floor.
According to him, the total area of the basement is 11,000 square feet while the total area of the other floors including the ground floor is 55,000 square feet.
“The progress of the project is quite satisfactory given that the construction work is going on for only a month and half. Out of the 263 number of footings, we have completed around 200 footings including the preparation of the site,” he added.
It may be mentioned that the firm has been given 30 months’ time to complete the project and they are expected to hand over the project to the State Government on or before January 14, 2022.
“But seeing the progress of the work, I am confident that we might be able to complete the project within two years. The completion of the construction of the new Assembly building will also depend on the funds provided from the Government side,” he said.
Meanwhile, PWD Building Executive Engineer said that they have adopted a special kind of design considering that Meghalaya falls under Seismic Zone V.
“The building can resist earthquake measured at the maximum in the Richter scale,” Sutnga said.
Deputy Project Manager of Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd, Nadeem Kausar Nasiri said that there are more than 200 labourers who are working on shifts adding that they are 13 engineers and 15 technical team who are involved in the supervision of the work
“This project is a prestige issue for the company. We will like to lift the name of firm by putting all our efforts to be able to complete the project even before the timeline of 30 months,” Nadeem said.
The Deputy Project Manager also informed that they are using all the latest technology and machineries to reduce manual work.
When asked on the steps taken by the Government on the flow of funds for the project, he said that as of now, there is no fund problem.
It may be recalled that the High Powered Committee on February last had allotted the work for construction of the new Assembly building to Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd. The new Assembly building would be constructed at a total cost of Rs. 127 crore.