Shillong: The Meghalaya government has decided to complete the construction of a bypass road before the monsoon in order to reduce traffic congestion in this city.

The Guwahati-Shillong highway and other roads leading to Shillong are choc-a-bloc with thousands of vehicles everyday especially during dropping and fetching of schoolchildren in the morning and afternoon. The city also witnesses huge traffic jams every weekend at Mawlai as hundreds of vehicles ferrying tourists pass through on the way to tourist spots in East Khasi Hills, including Sohra, Mawlynnong and the cliff at Laitlum village.

Sources said the state government has considered completing the Mawlai bypass a top priority so that vehicles coming from Guwahati and Ri Bhoi district could be diverted through this new road. The Mawlai bypass road starts from Mawlai Mawïong till Mawlai Mawkynroh near North Eastern Hill University.

"The bypass is an important project which will help reduce congestion. The government will put in all efforts to make this road usable before the monsoon," a source said.

The state government is also constructing an inter-state bus terminus (ISBT) at Mawlai Mawïong so that buses from other states would be parked there without coming to the city in order to ease the traffic congestion.

On Saturday, chief minister Conrad K. Sangma inspected the construction of the bypass road and a VIP road connecting the city with Umroi airport via Mawlai. Deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong, Mawlai MLA Process T. Sawkmie and Umroi MLA George B. Lyngdoh accompanied the chief minister along with other officials.

The chief minister also inspected the expansion of the Umroi airport, about 35km from here, along with officials of the transport department and Airports Authority of India.

"Work for Mawlai bypass is on in full swing to ensure that the project becomes operational at the earliest. We are working on tight deadlines and early completion of this road which is very important as this will be an effort to ease traffic congestion in the city," the chief minister said in a an official communiqué.

Conrad also inspected the VIP road and discussed at length with officials to improve its condition.

The chief minister also stressed the need to improve air connectivity and said that he would visit New Delhi next week to discuss this issue, particularly the expansion of the Umroi airport, which is important in view of the National Games to be hosted by Meghalaya in 2022.

"We discussed about measures to be taken for expansion of runways and technical feasibility to make the airport fully functional," the communiqué said.