Kolkata/ Guwahati Mar 31 : Four-laning of National Highway 40, which connects Shillong, capital of Meghalaya, with Guwahati, is expected to commence in 2010. Work on Shillong bye-pass would also start by the end of this year, said Mukul Sangma, finance minister of Meghalaya, while presenting the state budget for 2010-2011.
"Both projects are now at an advanced stage of consideration for award of work by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)," Sangma said.
In the current year, he said, the state government provided Rs 180 crore from the state plan for construction of roads and bridges, by which 368 schemes will be completed by this year. This will result in 46 km of new construction; 227 km blacktop roads; 42 km improved and widened roads and 895 metres of bridges.
Of this, 8 are ongoing projects with a target of 44 kms of upgraded roads and 6 are under-construction bridges under North-Eastern Council (NEC) sponsored schemes.
Sangma said that Rs 30.24 crore has been provided for additional land acquisition for upgrading Umroi Airport, near Shillong. The land will be acquired shortly, he added. He further said that steps had been initiated for setting up a permanent helipad in Shillong.
On power sector front, Sangma said that to meet the shortfall, some hydro projects have been identified for completion in the 11th Plan. Capacity of 193.5 MW is expected to be added to state's own generation during these five years. He added that the state government was in the process of allotting hydro and thermal power projects to NEEPCO and other parties.
The state's generation capacity is 186 MW, which is exclusively hydel-based. Meghalaya's share of power from central utilities in North-East is around 130 MW. However, due to transmission constraints, only 60 MW of power can be drawn during peak hours and 80-100 MW during off-peak hours.
As a consequence, power availability is only around 40 per cent to 50 per cent of total requirement. The present unrestricted power demand of the State is 610 MW, of which 480 MW is industrial demand and 130 MW is domestic demand.
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