Shillong, Mar 17: Deputy Chief Minister in-charge PWD Prestone Tynsong on Thursday said construction of the Shella Bridge over River Umiam is very important and the government is in touch with the World Bank for its completion. He also informed that the project has been delayed due to non-availability of land in the earlier route, and the project has now been shifted downstream.
The bridge is being funded by the World Bank under the Meghalaya Integrated Transport Project (MITP).
He said before floating the tender, there was a problem because of the non-availability of land as per the existing proposal because of which they had to change the alignment and the project has been shifted downstream.
In fact, the original DPR was estimated at Rs 20.49 crore and due to change of alignment, now the World Bank is undertaking the documentation of EPC, Tynsong said while replying to a query raised by Shella legislator Balajied Kupar Synrem in the Assembly.
He said the preparation of documents for implementation of the project under Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) mode of contract is under process by the World Bank. Underling that the project is very important, he said, “Therefore, the state government and the PWD are in touch with the World Bank. So, once the detailed project report (DPR) is completed, I am very sure sanction will also be accorded simultaneously.”
“Once the documentation is over then the successful bidder will again go for DPR and technical survey and thereafter they will submit the DPR to the World Bank for the necessary sanction,” he added.
When Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma wanted to know the targeted timeline for taking up projects under the MITP, Tynsong said the programme was started in 2021 and it will end up to 2026.
He informed as of now about 13 projects are already in progress and DPRs have been submitted for the remaining 8 projects. The projects amount to Rs 800 crore.
