Shillong, Mar 16: Land has been identified for construction of civil helipad in Shillong and Tura, Meghalaya governor, Ganga Prasad said in Assembly on Friday.
In his maiden address to members of the tenth Assembly here , Prasad said that land has been identified at Mawdiangdiang in Shillong and Tura for the purpose of construction of a civil helipad.
Stating that connectivity is a vital link to progress and development of the state, the governor however did not mention connectivity by rail in the state particularly in the Khasi – Jaintia region, which saw opposition from some pressure groups.
He informed that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed by the state government with the Government of India under the Regional Connectivity Scheme – UDAN for the un-served Umroi (Shillong) Airport, and for under-served Baljek (Tura) Airport, it is also under active consideration of the Government of India for upgradation.
In order to safeguard the safety of road users, he said the state has constituted the state council for road safety and a corpus fund of Rs 1 crore has been approved to enhance safety on national highways and state highways.
The governor also informed that the government would also comprehensively revamped the Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC).
On road connectivity, the governor said 61 road projects for a total length of 267.593 km including bridges have been sanctioned at a cost of Rs 200.12 crore to connect 23 eligible habitations.
“77 proposals under batch-II of 2017-18 have been submitted to the ministry of rural development at an estimated cost of Rs 261.65 crore,†he said.
Under regular PMGSY programme 2001-2002 to 2012-2013, he said, an amount of Rs 272.28 crore was sanctioned to connect 227 eligible habitations having a total road length of 634.85 km.
According to him, till date 217 habitations have been connected with a completed road length of 621.13 km.
With regards to World Bank funded PMGSY rural roads project, an amount of Rs 810.42 crore for construction of 290 road projects of length 1,112,839 km of raods including bridges was sanctioned with a target to connect 262 eligible habitations. However till date, 107 road works have been completed covering a total length of 525.577 km, and 79 habitations have been connected, he added.