The State government has proposed to spend more than Rs 2,500 crore for the construction of the much-awaited administrative city at the New Shillong Township.
“It is a project that is going to be worth more than Rs 2,500 crore if you were to include everything from road connectivity, water supply and the building infrastructure,” Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said at a function here today.
Sangma said that he had recently seen a presentation of the designs of the proposed administrative city and that he would soon present the same before the State cabinet.
“Once those designs are approved by the cabinet, we should be able to tender out the works after the DPRs are made by the end of the second quarter of 2024-2025,” he added.
Sangma said that he is hoping within the present term, the government would be able to shift the State secretariat, if not all the directorates, to the new administrative city.
Stating that the idea is to bring governance and overall services to the public under one roof or one campus so that people can go to one location and get all the kinds of different services and all the help that they require, Sangma said, “That’s really the vision in which we are working.”
Further, the chief minister informed that the State government has also sanctioned Rs 100 crore for the construction of three roads leading to the new administrative city, the foundation stones of which were laid recently.
“The tenders for the road projects are already out and work should start in about a couple of months. We are expecting that within the next financial year, all three roads are ready that will lead to the New Shillong Township so that the infrastructural work for the actual secretariat can be facilitated by the roads that are going to be constructed,” he said.
Sangma also said that the State government is working on long-term, medium-term and short-term measures to improve the overall living conditions in Shillong.
“While we are working on that long-term and larger project which I am sure will lead to a large development for the decongestion of Shillong city, there are small things we need to do to really improve things,” he added.