NH 40 four-laning to begin this year

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.

ROAD-CONNECT

# NH-40 connects Shillong, capital of Meghalaya, with Guwahati, capital of Assam1

# Both projects are now at an advanced stage of consideration for award of work by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)

# Assam government in 2010 provided Rs 180 crore from the state plan for construction of roads and bridges

Moreover, the Rs. 376 crore deficit budget has proposed not to levy additional taxes on items of common consumption including rice, wheat and potato, but on the other hand, it has proposed to enhance the rates of Value Added Tax (VAT) on items presently fixed at 4 per cent to 5 per cent to generate additional revenue

Due to relative insularity of the state's economy, besides dominant role of the government in spending; comparatively lower dependence on and reach of the banking system and lesser weight and contribution of the organised manufacturing sector, Sangma said that the impact of the economic downturn in Meghalaya was "less than originally apprehended."

To enable speedy payment of wages in a transparent and time-bound manner under the NREGS, the budget has proposed to make payments through bank accounts and electronic transfers.