Meghalaya : Shillong-Dawki road construction

After land acquisition for the road project is completed, the construction work of the Shillong-Dawki road will be started soon by the State Government within a month.

The widening process of the strategic National Highway-40 was started by the government years ago, starting from Shillong to Tamabil that links Meghalaya with Bangladesh. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded the road project at Rs 1,251 crore.

The project is divided into four packages, and is awarded for the construction to start, informed State Government official.

The official said “Everything is going on well except the 8 kilometer stretch of Pynursla Bypass where there are some land issues which is not yet resolved”.

Money has been deposited with all the Deputy Commissioners for the land acquisition as informed by the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL). But transfer of money to the account of the land owners is delayed.

“As soon as the money is transferred to the land owners it will take us another one month to start the construction but it depends on how fast things move,” the official said.

The official also added that the Defence authorities have given their

Permission for the construction work has been approved by the Defence authorities, the official added. Identification of the he land owners are also being done.

The 71 km long NH-40 will be converted into a four-lane highway for about 15 km from Umshyrpi bridge in Shillong to Bañiun at 7th Mile, Upper Shillong.

A new bridge will also be constructed over the Umngot river at Dawki, as the existing single lane 136-metre suspension bridge not able to support heavy vehicles.

The bridge will be 368 metres in length and 12.5 metres wide. It will be constructed ahead of the existing bridge.