By Ellerine Diengdoh
Remember when the Smart City Mission was announced, I imagined a city of the future: self-driving buses zipping through the streets, robo-dogs patrolling the highways, traffic signals that just know when to change to keep things moving, streets that stay spotless without anyone lifting a finger and apps that nudge you when your trash needs attention. It was a vision of a city that practically runs itself.
Shillong was the last and final entry, the 100th name to be carved into this grand promise of urban transformation. That was 2018, it is now 2025. Seven long years! One Lok Sabha election, one MLA election, one MDC election, six Miss Indias, three Avengers movies, and approximately 936,007 traffic jams later, the dream remains exactly where we left it. Somewhere between “vision” and “execution” we seem to have misplaced the “smart” part and just ended up with a “city”.
Let me start with the roads….Oh wait, we can’t, they’re missing! The “Smart Roads” project was supposed to upgrade 17 stretches. Turns out, the roads weren’t ready to be smart; in fact, they weren’t even ready to be roads. One particular stretch now functions as an obstacle course and children from a nearby school have developed quadriceps powerful enough to leap over cement mixers; they are now preparing for the Olympics. Some parents reportedly asked for a rope bridge, others just gave up and enrolled their children in an online school, from across the road. Last I heard about the roads, they were auditioning for “India’s Got Craters”.
Now let’s move on to the Polo Commercial Complex and the Laitumkhrah Market. Oh, I’m sorry, did I say “move on?” I meant “walk around aimlessly”….because both these grand constructions have achieved a new level of success…..100% completed and 0% functional.
The Polo Commercial Complex began construction way back in November 2020. Today, it stands tall, dignified and completely pointless. Completed in body but abandoned in spirit, it has been waiting patiently for an inauguration that was due on January 25, 2025.Some locals have suggested turning it into a wildlife sanctuary because, at least then, the pigeons roosting inside could be formally recognised as tenants.
The Laitumkhrah Municipal Market followed a similar script, only with a few extra plot twists. After a leisurely 17-month delay just to hand over the site, construction stumbled forward, finally crawling toward “completion” at the start of this year. As of April 2025, the market is a concrete carcass….no shops, no vendors, no life. If neglect had a physical form, it would look exactly like this market. One could argue the market is functional…if you’re a rodent!
Then there’s the Integrated Command and Control Centre, which sounds like the place where a supervillain would sit, twirl his moustache and press a big red button and scream, “Akk-tee-bait See-tee Waaittt pro-toh-kollll!!! Mwahahaha!!”(Activate city-wide protocol!) In reality, it is a building that’s 85% there and 100% elusive. It might eventually control traffic, surveillance, disseminate information, manage disasters and daily city operations. But for now, it can barely control its own completion date!
Let us now turn to the Mechanised Multi-Level Car Park at Motphran, a project so legendary in its stillborn state, it now has its own folk song. At 32% physical progress, it has started to develop its own ecosystem. Birds have taken permanent residence there and people now take selfies in front of it, like it’s the Shillong Stonehenge. Legend has it that if you shout “Parking!” three times, a contractor appears and explains why it is still in progress and vanishes before you can ask for a refund.
We now move on to the Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar PV System, a project powered by sunlight, which is adorable considering we get about two months of sun per year. Currently, the project is about 55% done, and so far, the entire system is generating enough electricity to fully charge one mid-range power bank. Urban energy experts are calling it “a bold leap into the future of decorative energy solutions.” Meanwhile, crows have taken over the site, installed leadership, held elections, and now have better infrastructure than the rest of the city.
Next up, the legendary Waste Water Nallah Treatment project, awarded on December 19, 2021, completed on June 3, 2023 and celebrated with the quiet confidence of a job well botched. It was designed to “treat” waste water, it now heroically blocks both water and garbage with such ruthless efficiency that even a mild drizzle transforms it into a high-pressure garbage cannon. Urban planners have praised the Nallah for being “interactive” and “immersive,” calling it a dynamic waste experience where citizens are encouraged to engage directly with their own sewage. In a statement nobody asked for, an official said: “The system is working as intended. We never said what it was intended to do!”
At this point, the only thing “smart” about Shillong is how cleverly it dodges accountability. Projects start with fireworks, end with fog, and in between, we get motivational speeches.
Maybe that’s the master plan. Maybe WE are the Smart City, a living museum of things that almost happened. Tourists will soon arrive, wide-eyed, clutching impact guidebooks titled “50 Shades of Incomplete.” They will come see the ruins of Motphran Car Park, now an official heritage site. They will swim in the interactive Garbage Rapids, our contribution to eco-tourism, and they will marvel at the Invisible Roads, Shillong’s first official ghost infrastructure.
Meanwhile, we will stand proudly by power banks fully charged, waiting for sunlight, Wi-Fi, leadership, Godot……whoever shows up first. Because right now, Shillong isn’t a smart city at all, it is a loading screen that reads: Smart City… buffering… please wait [Error 404: Progress not found]
Please refer to the official website for additional information, promises and pictures full of potential: Shillong Smart City Limited — http://sscl.meghalaya.gov.in/
(This piece was inspired by: “Shillong – The Smart City Project: The Main Stakeholder: The Public”- Toki Blah (Shillong Times) “Straight Talk: Shillong Smart City: Grand Vision vs Ground Reality”- DDK (YouTube).