By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The construction of the state-of-the-art Assembly building at Mawdiangdiang in the New Shillong Township is going on in full swing.
Construction began on June 15 after the work order was issued by the Meghalaya government to the Uttar Pradesh- based Public Sector Understanding, Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd.
The need for a new Assembly building arose after the 125-year-old structure that housed the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly at Police Bazar was gutted in a devastating fire in 2001.
A visit by a group of reporters to the site at Mawdiangdiang on Monday revealed that the work was moving at fast pace.
Speaking to reporters on the status of the project, PWD (Buildings) Executive Engineer, R. Sutnga informed that the new Assembly building will consist of a basement, ground floor, first floor and second floor.
According to him, the total area of the basement is 1100 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 after the work started one month and a half ago. Out of the 263 number of footings, we have completed around 200 footings, including the preparation of the site,” he added.
The firm has been given 30 months to complete the project and the building has to be handed over to the state government on or before January 14, 2022.
“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 release of funds from the government side,” he said.
Sutnga said that they have adopted a special kind of design considering that Meghalaya falls under Seismic Zone V which is highly prone to earthquakes.
Deputy Project Manager of Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd, Nadeem Kausar Nasiri said there are more than 200 labourers working on shifts.
He added that there are 13 engineers and 15 technical teams involved in the supervision work.
“This project is a prestige issue for the company. We will like to lift the name of our firm by putting all our efforts to be able to complete the project before the timeline of 30 months,” Nadeem said.
He also informed that they are using all the latest technology and machineries to speed up the work which, otherwise, has to be done manually.
When asked on the steps taken by the government with regard to sanction of funds for the project, he said that as of now, there is no fund problem.
The cost for the construction of new Assembly building is Rs 127 crore.