The state government is planning to construct more parking spaces in the city in order to decongest the city roads, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma informed today.
With land at a premium, the government is looking at converting its own property rather than purchasing new plots for these parking lots.
At least two of these mentioned by the CM today include heritage spaces – the Public Works Department site at Barik Point and Brightwell Bungalow.
The former was also the centre of a mini storm in 2020 after the state government suggested a plan to construct a shopping mall there instead of the award-winning suggestion of a public park. Sangma made no mention of the shopping mall today, suggesting that the park is now the favoured option.
“There is a programme to shift the PWD office and convert that to parking space and a green space,” the CM said. A large national flag will also be prominently flown from the site, up to 50m high.
Part of Phan Nonglait Park will also be converted into parking spaces. The road outside the park is crowded with vehicles, tourists and school children most days. The park is currently home to several animals on display but once these are moved in the next few months to the dedicated and as yet unopened zoo, the space they occupy will be used for parking.
“When this happens there will be much more open space and vehicles that are parked on the roads now will be parked in the parking spaces,” the CM said.
Sangma also informed that there are plans to expand the road to create a footpath from Shillong Club to Raj Bhavan and on to the Pinewood junction. A footpath currently exists on the side of Raj Bhavan but most people prefer to walk on the other side overlooking Ward’s Lake where there is no pavement and pedestrians have to share space with vehicular traffic.
To bring this idea about, the government will have to take a portion of land along the Ward’s Lake boundary.
Sangma said that these ideas are part of a second phase of decongesting Shillong. In the first phase, many government properties that were lying unused were transferred to the Urban Affairs Department for parking lots. These are at Ward’s Lake, NEIGRIHMS and in Polo; the work on these lots is in progress, he added.
