Speaker to inspect new Assembly building today

SHILLONG, March 12: Assembly Speaker, Thomas A. Sangma will be visiting the construction site of the new Assembly building at Mawdiangdiang in New Shillong Township at 11.30 a.m. on Monday.
Sources on Sunday said the PWD (Buildings) officials, representatives of the construction firm and contractors will be present at the site during the inspection by him.
The Speaker will also review the status and progress of the new Assembly building.
On the day he was elected as the Speaker, Sangma stated his priority will be to ensure that the construction of the new Assembly building is completed soon. He also observed that a huge amount of money has already been spent on the project while referring to the delay in completing the project because of the collapse of the Assembly building’s dome.
“I will not rush into things. I will have to assess properly before taking any decision as far as this project is concerned,” he said.
The building project was put on hold after the collapse of the central dome on May 22 last year. The work resumed in November.
The mishap affected some portions of the building. Following pressure from all quarters, the government invited a team from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG) to conduct a safety audit of the building.
The IITG team found that the right, left and central wings of the building were safe. The team concluded that the dome had collapsed due to the lack of coordination among the designer, the contractor, and the project management consultant.
The height of the previous dome was about 65 meters while the height of the minar was 13 meters. The dome weighed about 70 tonnes.