Opponents of the proposed shopping mall at Barik Point on the premises of the Public Works Department (PWD) need to look at the bigger picture as there has to be a commercial component to the redevelopment for its own viability, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said today.
The redevelopment of the three acre site has to be planned around the need for decongestion, parking spaces, logistics, beautification and creating iconic structures, the latter of which was the original idea behind planning to turn the PWD complex into a public park, an idea that has largely been shelved by the government.
Last month Sangma had said that the government needs has to balance aesthetics with commercial concerns and use its assets to improve the overall look of the city while extracting maximum value of properties with commercial potential.
“All the development work we are planning for Shillong have multiple objectives,” Sangma said today. “At the same time we are ensuring that there has to be some commercial aspect or else the viability of the project won’t be there,” Sangma said.
The CM said this after meeting a delegation that was led by United Democratic Party (UDP) leaders. The UDP, a partner of Sangma’s National People’s Party in the state government, had earlier come out against the shopping mall proposal.
