By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 8: Even though the contract to build Shillong’s smart roads was issued over two years ago, the project is still far from being finished.
On December 22, 2021, the Shillong Smart City Limited awarded the construction of a 6-km smart road project to M/s Dhar Construction Company.
Nevertheless, as of the end of September 2023, almost 23 months after the project was awarded, only 27% of the project had been physically completed, while only 20.7% had been financially completed.
The project is anticipated to be finished by March 31, 2024.
The Shillong Smart City Limited has designated a total of 15.9 km of road to be constructed as “smart roads” over the course of two phases.
Eighteen areas, including Jail Road, Bivar Road, Keating Road, Laitumkhrah Market to Fire Brigade via Beat House, Secretariat Hill Road, roadway connecting Keating Road and GS Road, and Rhino Point to Last Stop Market, would have smart road construction, according to the bidding document.
Road pavement (carriageway), bus bays, junction improvement works, protected footpaths/pedestrian walkways, pedestrian plazas, street furniture, road markings, road signage, utility ducts for various utilities such as water supply, power distribution system, communication (telephone, optical fibre cables), landscaping works, storm water drainage including culverts, etc. are among the civil works that are involved in converting the identified existing roads into smart roads.
It is necessary to provide the pipelines and pump rooms necessary to create a network of exterior fire hydrants on all road segments that will be transformed into smart roads.