Disparsing Rani, a Right to Information (RTI) activist, today questioned what real progress there has been on the Smart City project in Shillong.
The funding for each Smart City project is meant to be split down the middle between the state and central governments.
Addressing reporters, Rani said that the RTI he filed with the Urban Affairs Department revealed that till end of October 2022, 11 projects at a cost of Rs 638.78 crore have been awarded and the work is ongoing with the overall financial progress of 31.20 percent.
From the total estimate of Rs 638 crore, the government of India has already released Rs 245 crore to the Meghalaya government.
He said that the work includes the construction of 6km of smart roads, which, he added, are nowhere to be seen.
The other project are a mechanised multilevel car park at Motphran Junction, waste water treatment through in-situ treatment technology at various locations in Shillong’s streams and rivers, rainwater harvesting system, commercial complex at Polo, fire safety, development of tourism-cum-culture centres, construction and re-development of Laitumkhrah market, retrofitting and upgrading multilevel parking lots at various locations, etc.
Other than a few of these, Rani said that most have not seen the light of day.
On specific projects, Rani said that the multilevel car parks at Mawlonghat, Khlieh Iew and Anjalee are estimated to cost Rs 46 crore. An already-constructed 10km stretch of road on National Highway 44 near Jowai was sanctioned at Rs 779 lakh and a 26km, accident-prone stretch on the Shillong-Jowai highway was improved for Rs 194 lakh.
