Shillong, Feb 6 (IANS) Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Friday said traffic congestion remains one of the biggest challenges facing Shillong and stressed that the government has adopted a long-term, multi-pronged strategy to decongest the city, beginning with the creation of modern parking infrastructure.
Inaugurating the state’s first Automated Multilevel Car Park at Vivekananda Road near the Additional Secretariat here, Sangma said that unplanned parking and lack of adequate parking spaces have significantly contributed to traffic snarls in the state capital.
“Among the many challenges Shillong faces, traffic congestion is one of the most pressing. A multi-pronged strategy was therefore developed to slowly and steadily decongest the city, and the multilevel car park we are inaugurating today is just one part of the solution,” the Chief Minister said.
He informed that the government has already identified nine more locations for multilevel car parks, which together will create parking space for around 1,300 vehicles in different parts of the city.
Emphasising the need for organised parking, Sangma said random parking on roadsides severely disrupts traffic flow and inconvenience commuters.
To address this, he highlighted the state’s new parking policy under which private landowners can partner with the government to develop parking facilities, with the landowners allowed to collect revenue from the parking spaces.
“People must be provided designated parking areas so that indiscriminate parking can be avoided,” he said.
The Chief Minister further outlined several parallel initiatives aimed at easing traffic congestion, including the creation of dedicated parking spaces for public transport buses and taxis at Khyndailad, relocation of hawkers from busy roads, expansion of the Umshyrpi–Seventh Mile road, and proposals for an elevated or four-lane road from Rhino Museum Point to Civil Hospital and Barik.
He also reiterated that the gradual shifting of major administrative offices to the New Administrative City would significantly reduce daily traffic pressure in Shillong.
“All these proposals are at an advanced stage and are being implemented to ensure smoother traffic movement, not just as an immediate measure but with a vision for the next few decades,” Sangma said.
–IANS
tdr/pgh