SHILLONG, July 28: In what beckons a fillip to the state, the Meghalaya government is planning the handover of unutilised plots of land with different departments to the Directorate of Urban Affairs, which will nurture developmental works like parking lots, commercial establishments, beautification projects et al, on such land.
This was revealed by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma here on Friday.
The chief minister added that a meeting was convened by the Urban Affairs department recently involving Forest, PWD, MeECL and other departments.
With the help of exhaustive presentation, the state government was apprised about the different land banks that are owned by certain departments but not being utilised in the most efficient manner, the chief minister said.
Citing an example of a land belonging to the Forest department between the Majestic Hotel and Hotel Orchid Annex in Polo, the CM said that this plot of land which is owned by the Forest department is unutilised just like many other plots in different locations.
“We have more or less come to a conclusion and decision but of course details are being worked out that most of these lands now will be given to Urban Affairs department and we will construct parking lots, utility systems, beautification projects and commercial spaces in many of these locations across across the city, which will then facilitate the entire process of us leading to a massive programme for decongestion of Shillong,” he said.
With regard to the construction of new Secretariat, the CM said that the matter is in an advanced stage. The DPR is being prepared and the plan is expected to be ready by October this year, he added.
“By December, we should be able to finalise things and we expect things to move very fast,” Conrad said.
Talking about another vaunted project which the Conrad Sangma government aspires to bring to light, the CM said that the DPR for construction of a skywalk from Barik to Police Bazar is ready, while adding that plans are afoot to connect the proposed skywalk to other locations in the city.
He also pointed out that a flyover will be built in the MES Hospital area.
He, however, said that construction of flyovers in other locations depends on the feasibility of taking up such a project.
When asked about the transfer of civil areas of Cantonment land to Shillong Municipality, the CM said that the process is going on at a very fast pace.
