SHILLONG, Jan 23: The deplorable condition of the road leading to New Shillong Township (NST) has managed to draw criticism from several quarters. The road is in that condition due to the ongoing construction of the 11-km two lane road under the Meghalaya Integrated Transport Project (MITP) funded by World Bank.
The work for the Rs 34-crore two-lane road project was allotted to JV Dhar Construction Company, which initiated the digging work starting from Itshyrwat.
Many citizens are complaining about the present state of the road, which, according to them, is no longer motorable.
In the past few days, it was witnessed that vehicles, especially two-wheelers, faced difficulties to ply on the road due to it being slippery as a result of the ongoing construction work and the rain.
With the gradual increase in the flow of traffic to NST area, there is a huge traffic jam, especially in the morning and evening, which is in turn adding to the woes of the people. In view of this, the people of the area have urged the state government to facilitate the expedition of the construction work.
Official sources on Sunday informed that the work on the road project had commenced in January 2021, while adding that the timeline to complete the road project is 36 months.
The upcoming two-lane road will start from Itshyrwat till the stretch before reaching Shillong Bypass, official sources said.
According to official sources, the road project will not connect till Shillong Bypass since there is already a PMGSY road project connecting with the bypass which is under implementation.
Moreover, it was also informed that there is no fresh land acquisition of the road project and the two-lane road is being constructed within right of way (ROW) of the PWD.