The meeting was chaired by Dr. Er. Vikuotuolie Angami, Ph.D, the first chief engineer PWD (National Highways) after its creation. He thanked the Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and minister for PWD (Road and Bridges) G. Kaito Aye for creation of separate Chief Engineer PWD (NH) to deal with National Highway work in Nagaland, which was the long felt desire of the Engineering Association.
He explained the nature of works to the officials and the contractors present in the meeting and requested them to put more of their sincerity, devotion and hard work for timely completion of the projects/works with quality control.
He stressed the quality assets; durability and stability of the road should be maintained at any cost and also stated for maintaining accountability and transparency that all contractors should maintain Site Order Book, Display Signboard and Bar- Chart at the project site. He also stressed that there should be a sense of competition among the various contractors and further said that the best firm/contractor would be recommended to the Government for award of certificate whose project/job has been completed within the stipulated time and satisfies all concerned officials.
In the depth of deliberations, the contractors had also explained their difficulties at their respective work place/site where they had to encounter with so many unforeseen problems which sometime requires the assistance of the district administrative and the department to solve the various local and landowner problems and requested the department officers to visit the site and resolve their grievances. In response to this, the Chief Engineer PWD (NH) stated that since the government had issued transfer and posting order of various officers recently, smooth functioning of the department is expected in due course of time and would certainly look into their problems and difficulties by the respective circles and divisions and shall be brought to the notice of the department for taking necessary action. The meeting concluded with an appeal to the general public as well as various organization/association to extend full support and cooperate with the department and the contractors for timely completion of the projects/jobs since these NH-61 and NH-155 would serve as the lifelines for the people of Nagaland in the days to come, according to a release issued by Er. K. Rhetso, Superintending Engineer, PWD (NH), Kohima.