By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 17: The state has once again decided to go for fresh bidding for the construction of smart roads under the Smart City project after only one bidder showed interest.
The state government plans to construct a total of 6 km of smart roads as a pilot project in 16 locations of Shillong under the Smart City project. The road length would be extended to 25 km depending on the success of the pilot project.
The state PWD (Roads) had floated the tender twice, attracting only one bidder on both the occasions.
The smart road project is to be taken up at a cost of Rs. 36-crore by the PWD (National Highway).
A PWD official confirmed that the lukewarm response made the government decide on fresh bidding. The re-bidding will take place in two weeks’ time.
A smart road entails widening of roads in some stretches besides installing street lights and laying water pipelines and electric wires underground. A smart road will also have proper facilities for pedestrians.
Some localities where the smarts road are being contemplated are Traverse Lane, Bivar Road, Keating Road, PWD Secretariat Hill Road, Umsohsun Road, Police Bazar Road and Thana Road.
The state government has started issuing tenders for three massive projects under the Smart Shillong City project. These include construction of a market at Laitumkhrah at a cost of Rs. 30-crore and a market complex at Polo for Rs. 80-crore.
Shillong was included in the Smart City project in June 2018 after which Shillong Smart City Limited was constituted.