Shillong, Feb 7: The State government has decided to put on hold the construction of a Skywalk in Shillong city. The project has been proposed as part of the measures to decongest the city.
“We had a plan to put up a skywalk in one of the zones, but we have been advised not to go ahead because that would only further increase the traffic congestion while the construction is going on,” Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said while speaking at a function held on Wednesday.
“So until and unless we are able to not find other ways to park the vehicles and reduce the congestion, development of skywalk, at this point in time have to be put on hold because the traffic congestion for the next one year and a half will be massive if we are to start the construction of (skywalks in) those zones,” he said.
According to him, the government had already finalised the designs as well as the budget for the same.
Stating that he is very keen to make Shillong a “walkable city”, Sangma said, “I believe Shillong can become a walkable city because distances are not too long and hence if we have footpaths that can serve the people of the state, I think a lot of people in Shillong would prefer parking their vehicles in those parking lots and then walking on the footpaths.”
He further informed that the government has mapped close to about 15kms to 18kms in the whole of Shillong city in order to have continuous walkways. “I am getting experts onboard and these kinds of things today are happening,” he added.
Meanwhile, the CM also informed that the government is coming up with multiple parking areas, which will also have space for hawkers, for decongesting the city. These are coming up in many government lands, which have been lying unutilized for the past many years.
The land belonging to the forest department in Polo will soon be transferred to the Urban Affairs department for construction of a multi level parking lot and hawkers’ zone. The land was unutilized for the last 50 years, he said, adding that another land of the forest department near the additional secretariat will also be utilized for creation of parking lots to decongest the city roads.
Moreover, the CM said that the government has realised that the overall congestion in Police Bazaar and Bara Bazaar areas happened because of the unregulated movement of buses and taxis and that also is a big challenge because there is no alternative for the buses and taxis to park.
“Hence, the only way to create a decongested environment in those choking points is to be able to actually have a zone where the buses and the taxis can actually wait,” he added.
Further, Sangma informed that there are very advanced talks with the Government of India for transferring of different lands owned by cantonment board to the state government and such areas will be converted into parking zones and waiting zones for buses and taxis.
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