Shillong, August 17: Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar has admitted that the implementation of smart road project under the Smart City Project is slow in Shillong since the project is being implemented in a convergence mode with several line departments.
He, howver, tried to defend the government over sluggish pace of implementation of the Smart City Project Shillong which has been listed among 10 worst performing Smart Cities in the country..
Speaking to media persons here, Sniawbhalang Dhar said that overall implementation of Smart City Project was not poor except the smart road project.
Informing that he would soon call a meeting and would even inspect Smart City projects, the Minister added that projects like market in Polo and Laitumkhrah were progressing well.
In addition, he said, out of 8 smart city projects, many are nearing completion.
As far as the delay in smart roads are concern, he said that shifting of utilities had been a big challenge as there were lot of components involved in it.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) placed its capital Shillong among the 10 worst performers in terms of implementing smart city projects.
The nine other worst performers are Aizawl, Amaravati, Diu, Greater Warangal, Guwahati, Imphal, Kavaratti, Port Blair, and Puducherry.
According to a MoHUA report, only one out of 96 Shillong Smart City projects has been completed. The projects are worth Rs 1,039 crore.
A total of Rs 349 crore was sanctioned in February for implementing the smart city project in Shillong.