Shillong, Jun 15: The northeast region is “daring to dream” in shaping its growth story, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said here on Monday and announced that in the next few years, eight new five-star hotels are set to be opened in his state.
In his address at a summit, he also underlined that the time is “crucial” for the northeast, and “we just need to connect the dots”.
Sangma said the northeast today has the political will, policy and thought process to grow, and its states are “daring to dream”.
“Earlier, we didn’t dare to dream, but now we are, and that’s the confidence we wish to convey to the investors looking to invest in our region,” he said.
The ‘North East India Infrastructure Summit and Exhibition 2026’ is being hosted from June 15-16 at Lariti Performing Centre in Shillong.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, and several other dignitaries were also present on the dais.
“In the last eight years, our (state) budget has grown twice as much. And I am confident that by 2028-2029, it will grow to thrice of what the volume was eight years ago,” Sangma said in his address.
“Our capital expenditure, the expenditure on infrastructure and investment we do, it has grown six times in the last eight years,” he said.
In Meghalaya, the state is doing today something that “we had not even thought of earlier”, Sangma emphasised.
In this country, “the biggest dedicated football stadium is being built in Meghalaya, with a capacity of 40,000, and worth about Rs 800 crore investment, a FIFA-certified football stadium, which can host any international-level game,” the Meghalaya chief minister said.
He said Meghalaya is going to host the National Games next year. “We are making full preparations for it.”
Sangma pointed to the several buildings and other infrastructure projects which are underway in the state.
“Our new assembly building is ready, our new secretariat building is getting built, and perhaps in a year or a year and a half, we will be able to start our administrative work from there,” Sangma said.
“Meghalaya earlier didn’t have a single five-star hotel. In the last five years, we have started two five-star hotels. And, you will be happy to learn that in the next three-four years, eight new five-star hotels are set to be opened, their agreements (are) signed, and work has started on four of them,” he added.
The local airport in Shillong was built but closed; it has opened again, and big commercial operations will be able to start from it in the next one to one and a half years, Sangma said.
The chief minister said the “time is right” at present for the northeast and “we just have to connect the dots”.
“It is going in the right direction, and we’ll have to give it the right push,” he asserted.
He urged all stakeholders to come together to develop the northeast region and bring prosperity.
“We just have to ensure that if there is any paralysis, we have to correct it and then move forward,” he added.
Before the inaugural session, Gadkari, the Union minister for road, transport and highways, also attended a CEO roundtable and inaugurated an exhibition by various companies at the summit venue.(PTI)
