Jan. 5: Development of the city found special mention in Governor Shiv Charan Mathur’s speech on the inaugural day of the winter session of the Assembly today.

He said the government had taken up several schemes for creating urban infrastructure like drinking water supply, solid waste management, sewerage and drainage, slum housing and urban transport.

“The Guwahati Municipal Corporation has taken up a Rs 53.95-crore scheme for construction of 1,232 housing units for the urban poor under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission,” he said.

The GMC, in partnership with a private party, has also taken up a solid waste management project, he added.

He said the south Guwahati (west zone) drinking water supply scheme would be implemented soon and The Guwahati Water Bodies Preservation and Conservation Act 2008 had been enacted to conserve water bodies in and around the city.

He said a scheme had been taken up to upgrade the GMCH as a super-speciality hospital at a cost of Rs 119.95 crore. Initial work for establishment of the Guwahati Biotech Park has also started, he added.