Shillong, July 18: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Monday inspected the upgradation work of the Mairang-Ranigodown-Azra Road, an important road which serves as an alternate route to reach Guwahati city and the Guwahati airport through Mairang.
The Mairang-Ranigodown-Azra Road will serve as an alternate route connecting Eastern West Khasi Hills and Ri Bhoi Districts to Guwahati city and its airport areas. The road is crucial to the state to ensure connectivity to Guwahati in case the main highway, the NH-6, connecting Shillong to Guwahati via Jorabat and Nongpoh, gets blocked.
Talking about the road, the chief minister recalled the time when he was the Leader of Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly in 2010-11 and had stressed on reconstructing this road to make it easier to travel. “I remember, in 2010-11, when I was the Leader of Opposition, I had mentioned about this road and I had urged the government then to take up this road as we needed an alternate connection to Shillong. And I remember speaking about it,” he said after inspecting the road, whose upgradation work has now been completed.
“In 2018, when our government was formed, we had taken up actively the construction and improvement of this road. I am happy to see that finally this road is now complete. And this was also a promise we had given to people during the elections, and we have completed this road now,” he added.
On the importance of the road and its immense benefits to the state, the CM said, “As you are aware, road connectivity is a precursor to any kind of development to come… now that it is complete, this road will open up a huge opportunity for commercial trade to take place, for opportunities of tourism to come in and definitely in other areas of food processing and other industries to develop.”
He also informed that satellite cities will be coming up along the route in near future; in sections near the Guwahati city and airport area. “Since this road leads into the airport section and towards Guwahati city, hence the land and the areas closer to the Guwahati sector and airport sector will see much more development in the future because we’ll be able to develop the concept of satellite cities where we’ll be able to create zones, and the proximity to the Guwahati city will give us an advantage. This road construction will have multiple benefits,” he said.
Expressing satisfaction with the upgradation work on the road and ensuring that an alternate good quality road connects East Khasi Hills, especially Shillong, to Guwahati, CM Sangma recounted the importance of the state and its people. He said, “First, of course, is the connectivity to the people; number 2 is the economic opportunities that will open up for not only the people in this region but for the state as a whole; third and most important is that this will serve as an alternative route going into East Khasi Hills and other parts of Meghalaya.”
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