The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly’s Estimates Committee on July 22 directed the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department to identify a new site for the stalled Pohkseh Water Supply Scheme after the project’s pumping system collapsed a few years ago. The committee also noted that the first phase of the New Shillong Water Supply Scheme remains on schedule for completion by December 2027.
The directions were issued during the committee’s inspection of the Pohkseh Water Supply Scheme, the New Shillong Water Supply Scheme at Mawpdang and the 2nd IT Park Building at the Shillong Technology Campus.
The inspection was led by committee chairman Mayralborn Syiem and attended by committee members Miani D Shira, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar and Remington G Momin, along with officials from the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Secretariat, the PHE Department and the Information Technology Department.
Addressing the media after the inspection at Pohkseh, Syiem said the pumping system had collapsed several years ago, prompting the committee to recommend relocating the project. He said the PHE Department has been instructed to identify a suitable site and prepare revised estimates so that construction can resume at the earliest. Syiem also acknowledged the Dorbar Shnong of Pohkseh for providing land for the project and said work would begin once the new location is finalised.
During the visit to Mawpdang, officials briefed the committee on the progress of the New Shillong Water Supply Scheme, including the installation of the treatment plant and other key infrastructure. Syiem said both the physical and financial progress of the project was satisfactory and expressed confidence that the first phase, comprising the dam, main gravity line and treatment plant, would be completed and commissioned by December 2027.
He added that the second phase of the project will focus on laying the distribution network to supply water to different localities in New Shillong.
