SHILLONG, SEPT 24: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today assured the House that the state government is committed to ensure Shillong becomes one of the smart cities in the country.
Giving his supplementary reply in the Assembly here on Monday, Conrad said, “Yes, there are challenges, nobody is saying that it is going to be easy, it is difficult but does that means we will not make Shillong a smart city absolutely not. We have to do whatever it takes to ensure that Shillong is right up there and become one of the smart cities in the country and that is what our government wants to do and that is why this challenge has been taken up.”
Opposition member from East Shillong Ampareen Lyngdoh has questioned on how the state government would generate Rs 500 crore plus on its own to implement the Rs 1039 crore smart city project in the state based on the 50:50 funding pattern.
However, the chief minister said that Shillong is the 100th city to be included in the smart city project and the funding pattern has been something that is uniformed as per the guidelines given by the government of India.
Admitting that the funding pattern is an issue, Conrad said, “Having said that, in this particular case, the beauty of this project is yet there are possibility of having PPP mode and different kinds of fundings and therefore it is an area where we will need to work out.”
According to him, there are many smart cities in the country today that have not been able to fulfill the 50:50 ratio as prescribed by the Centre.
Stating that it totally depends on the decision of the state government, he said, “I would tell you before we move into this process of accepting this smart city project, a lot of home work have been done into finding out what would be the alternative sources as there are different projects.”
The chief minister also informed that when they had met the Union Urban Affairs Minister, he had in fact given a very positive indication that they (centre) would be supporting the state in different ways.
“Therefore for government of India to directly say that they will be giving special consideration for NE states may not be possible. And in that kind of ambiguity and situation, the state government has to decide whether we would lose the smart city for Shillong or we would take this particular opportunity and take up the challenge to ensure that Shillong does become a smart city, it is a decision we have to really take,” he said.
When the chief minister stated that there are certain confidential matters which he would not like to share at the moment, Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma raised objection and asked as to which provisions of the rule that says such secrecy cannot be revealed in the House.
Mukul also charged that is it just the tendency of the government to withhold the information before the House.
Conrad however responded by stating it is his duty not to mislead the House because until and unless he is sure and get everything in writing.
“There are lots of things need to be done, lots of discussion to be made at both union minister and secretary level, until those things fructified fully it would be incorrect and irresponsible for me to tell this House how can I do that I cannot,” he said.
Earlier in his reply, Urban Affairs Minister Hamletson Dohling informed the House that the state government is still waiting for the final communication from the ministry on the request for the 90:10 or 80:20 funding pattern for the state.
“Now we are waiting for the final communication from the centre but we already have plan from which source to get funding for implementing the various projects under the smart city,” he said.
To a query raised by Mawlai MLA PT Sawkmie, Dohling said that the government is already in the process of constituting the Special Vehicle Purpose (SPV) for the implementation of the smart city project.
According to him, the constitution of the full body of the SPV will be completed by the second week of next month. He also said that the implementation of the project would immediately take off once the SPV is in place.
The minister while admitting the land is an issue however expressed confidence that the government would be able to address such problems.
By Our Reporter
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