Shillong: Cable cars for the highly congested city of Shillong was on Monday mooted by the Meghalaya government as expansion of existing roads is difficult due to the land tenure system prevalent in the State.
Addressing a workshop on ‘Urban Mobility for Shillong City’ at the State Convention Centre here, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong hoped that the recommendations made through the extensive and comprehensive study conducted by Dalberg would aid in decongesting Shillong.
“Suggestion for operation of cable cars is highly favorable for the city as land acquisition for construction of roads and flyovers often meet with stiff opposition due to the land tenure system that exists in our State,” he said, adding that the “need of the hour” was to meet short term goals.
Tynsong also reiterated the need for improving and increasing public and school bus services.
The workshop, inaugurated by the Deputy Chief Minister, deliberated and chalked out an action plan on the recommendations of the study on Urban Mobility for Shillong City conducted by the Meghalaya Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation Limited (MIDFC) and the Project Management Unit (PMU) of the World Bank-funded Meghalaya Integrated Transport Project (MITP). The study was entrusted to a global consulting firm, Dalberg.
D. Vijay Kumar, Project Director, Meghalaya Integrated Transport Project (MITP) and CEO, Meghalaya Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation Ltd. (MIDFC) said that the problem of improving urban mobility was a complex, multi sectoral problem which involves many stakeholders. Stating that Shillong has the potential of becoming a world class city and one of the best hill stations in the country, he, however, said that unless the mobility problem remains unsolved, this potential will not be realized.
The study conducted by Dalberg focused on the needs of the citizens, sustainability and unlocking economic growth and with this vision in mind, ten key suggestions were made for improving mobility systems in the capital city.
The suggestions include introducing high frequency people friendly public buses; building of ring roads so as to divert traffic from National Highways; introduction of cable cars as an alternative to road based mobility; creating walk-able culture corridors connecting places of tourist attraction to encourage walking; providing smart streetlights in municipal areas; introducing non fuss school buses; establishing next door markets to decentralise daily need markets; reduction in street parking by curbing illegal parking in Municipal areas; introducing car cap policy to reverse trends in car ownership and creating a self sufficient new Shillong township.
