The High Powered Committee (HPC) on the construction of the new Assembly building today met to review the status and progress of construction of the first phase of the main Assembly building.
Meghalaya Assembly Speaker Thomas A. Sangma said that the meeting reviewed the progress of the first phase of construction of the new Assembly building. The proposal for the second phase was also presented at the meeting.
Informing that the second phase will include construction of staff quarters, MLA hostel, health centres, schools, etc, Sangma said that the HPC would be submitting a proposal to the Government of India through the DONER Ministry for funding.
“I had a discussion with the Government of India and the minister concerned and they have been very positive. But we will know only after we submit the proposals, how to go about it. We are only submitting our proposals, whether the Government of India will actually accept or consider, that is to be seen. The chief minister and myself will be approaching them personally,” the Speaker said.
He informed that the meeting also discussed the presentation regarding the security systems for providing security solutions to the new Assembly complex.
Informing that this is the first presentation, Sangma said that with the approval of the HPC, officials of the Assembly secretariat and the concerned departments like PWD, Project Monitoring Committee and the consultants will sit together and again come back with suggestions.
The Speaker also said that the HPC wanted to incorporate the traditional and cultural aesthetics especially in the interior and around the Assembly complex.
“We have 80 acres of land but when we put all the infrastructure inside, the space is not enough for us. That’s why we have to plan accordingly. And this plan is not for the short term but for at least two or three generations in future,” he added.
He also informed that already 90 per cent of the debris of the collapsed dome has been cleared and work on the same has started.
