SHILLONG, Oct 19: Plans are in the making for beautification of Jowai town in West Jaintia Hills, with an Expression of Interest (EoI) already having been floated by the Urban Affairs department.
The government has maintained that the objective of the beautification is to optimise resources in the town with re-development of public spaces with encouragement to quality design that enhances town character, preserve natural landmarks and features by thorough conservation et al.
The overall scope of work includes development of major junctions of Jowai town, parking area for approximately 10 vehicles, junction bitumen road, pedestrian walkway with GRC Pavers, road marking, street furniture, signage and branding, concrete works, sign board and road marking, site cleaning and lighting/illumination.
The government has invited EoI from reputed companies in this regard. Interested parties have been asked to submit the EoI before November 1.
Once completed, the project is expected to be greatly beneficial for Jowai town which has a population of 28,430 as per census of 2011.
So far, there are two market places in Jowai town area — Iawmusiang and Iaw Thymmei — for trade and supply of goods etc, which have become congested over time. Hence, the developmental schemes have been proposed to tide over this burden and aims at the betterment of the district as a whole.
It may be mentioned that the beautification plan for Jowai is similar to the plan envisaged by the government for Shillong some years ago.
The beautification work of Police Bazar undertaken 9-10 years ago is in shambles while improvement of some of the junctions is still under implementation despite nearly a decade since the plan was conceived.