SHILLONG, April 10: The state’s first government engineering college is likely to be completed in the next few months.
The Shillong Polytechnic at Mawlai is being transformed into the Shillong Government College of Engineering.
WL Warjri, the polytechnic institute’s principal told The Shillong Times said the construction work is almost complete and the PWD (Building) may hand over the project to the college authorities.
“We are going to be affiliated with NEHU. We will also need the approval of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to run the courses after the building is handed over to us,” Warjri said.
The government will have to create the posts for and appoint the faculty members and the administrative staff before the classes start, he said.
Warjri said the college will start with three courses – civil engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science. “The proposal was to have 60 seats for each of the courses. But the total intake initially would be 30 each,” he added.
PWD (Building) executive engineer, Ransom Sutnga said the physical progress of the project started five years ago is almost 95%.
He said the project worth Rs 27.5 crore has post-COVID been slightly delayed due to some extra work on landscaping, approach road and the college auditorium they needed to get sanctioned. “We expect to complete these additional works by June 30. We can hand over the project to the college authorities by the first week of July,” Sutnga said.
He said work on the college had started slowly because of the contractor who was awarded the project. The pace picked up after the work was allotted to another contractor.
Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui had earlier said the Meghalaya Engineering College will start functioning from the next academic session. He also said the process of sanctioning various posts was under way.
Former CM, Mukul Sangma had laid the foundation for the engineering college in 2017. The college will receive funding under the National Higher Education Mission in collaboration with the state government.