New Meghalaya Assembly building to be ready by year end: Speaker

Shillong: Meghalaya Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh on Tuesday said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, work on the new Assembly building at Mawdiangdiang in Shillong is progressing at a good pace.

Hopeful that the next Budget session will be held at the new Meghalaya Assembly building, the Speaker said that civil work of the main building is almost completed. The remaining work on the dome, the main part of the hall, will be done at the earliest.

A detailed review meeting concerning the progress of work at the new Meghalaya Assembly building was held on July 2. “Glad to inform that the progress of work, despite the lockdown and shortage of manpower, is happening at a good pace,” said Lyngdoh.

He added that they had to put a lot of efforts to see that they complete the project by the end of this year.

“We are waiting for the main structure to come up. The fabricated structure is already ready in Kolkata. We expect that the dome will reach Shillong sometime by the end of this month. Installation of the same will take place thereafter,” said Lyngdoh.

As part of the remaining work, partition of rooms like those of the Speaker, the chief minister and the ministers, and the conference hall, canteen, offices of the Assembly are left to be done.

In the review meeting, a presentation was made by the team of officials concerned. The police department had earlier inspected the site and discussed at length about the security system.

The MePDCL has also identified the place where the sub-station will be installed at the main premises of the new Meghalaya Assembly building and work will start without delay, said Lyngdoh.

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Concerning the expenses, Lyngdoh said that most of that is under PWD (Building). “Only a few works which have not been included in the tender contract will be taken up by the Assembly office,” he said.

Allotment of work for for boundary fencing of the new Meghalaya Assembly building is also under progress and is likely to begin within a day or two, Lyndoh said.

All efforts are being made to ensure that the 2022 Budget session will be held in the new building, he added.