Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister and in-charge, PWD (Roads) Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday said the 12 projects funded by the World Bank at Rs 554 crore are targeted to be completed by December 2022.
Of these, 10 are road projects, five in Garo Hills and five in Khasi Hills, with a total length of 262.4 km and two are bridges.
The projects were sanctioned at Rs 554.67 crore under the Meghalaya Integrated Transport Project (MITP) by the World Bank in 2020.
Talking to reporters after reviewing the implementation of these projects, Tynsong said that the progress of work is very satisfactory.
“(We are targeting that) by December 2022, we will be able to complete all these projects,” he added.
The review meeting was also attended by Commissioner and Secretary in-charge Finance Vijay Kumar, officials from the PWD and contractors implementing the 12 projects.
Tynsong informed that the problems and challenges faced by the different contractors while implementing these projects were also discussed during the meeting. These were mainly related to the environment and forest clearances.
“Therefore, next week I will again call for a meeting with the concerned department to speed up issuing the NOC or clearances and whatever that is required,” he added.
The deputy chief minister further informed that he will continue to review the implementation of the projects on a regular basis to ensure that they are completed within the stipulated time.
The deputy chief minister further informed that implementation of another three new projects will start next year.
These include the Umsning-Jaggi road and Nongpoh-Umden road in Ri Bhoi district and Nongstoin-Maweit road in West Khasi Hills district.
He said that the detailed project reports (DPRs) for the three projects are nearing completion.
