SHILLONG, Nov 15: Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma on Monday said work on the long-pending Nongstoin-Wahkaji road would begin immediately and the contractor has been given necessary instruction in this regard.
Sangma inspected the Nongstoin-Wahkaji road which has been in a state of dilapidation for a long time and said that the road will be constructed under Special Accelerated Road Development Programme (SARDP-NE) of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, at a cost of Rs 302 crore.
The government had earlier scrapped the proposal for construction of a two-lane road from Nongstoin to Mawthabah via Wahkaji, a village known for its rich deposits of high grade uranium, after pressure groups raised objection. They fear that construction of the road would facilitate uranium mining in the area.
In order to revive the project, the government has changed the nomenclature and alignment of the proposed two-lane road and is set to complete the project in two phases. In the first phase, the road will be constructed from Nongstoin to Wahkaji.
