GUWAHATI, Oct 17 � In an ambitious project to give a new look to the city as one of the fastest growing urban centres of India and to boost commerce and tourism, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has initiated work on giving new street signage to the entire city.
Senior GMC officials told The Assam Tribune that the basic idea behind this project is to give proper direction and name of the streets to held city dwellers, visitors and tourists and under it all streets the main roads, arterial roads, lanes and bye-lanes will be covered with the signage in such a way so that anyone can get the proper direction to reach their destination without hassle.
�The signages will be designed with new and proper technologies to make them more attractive and eye catching. The signages will also cover all major landmarks in and around the city to guide both locals and others, particularly the tourists. All signages will be bilingual, in Assamese and English languages, to make it more helpful for all sections of people,� said an official.
He said that the GMC area is one of the fastest growing urban areas of the country and recently a number of ambitious projects have been taken up by the State government for creation of basic and modern urban infrastructure in the city.
�GMC is also executing various schemes as per the Master Plan of the city. It is expected that this speed of development will continue uninterrupted for the next few decades. However, the present street signage of the city is of most conventional type and limited to some streets only. The poor signboard system is creating problems and risks for the both locals and tourists and it is now our aim that the whole advertising facility of the city is upgraded and modernised with new techniques and innovative approach,� he said.
The official added, �Street signage is considered as one of the alternatives to the old system as it would need proportionately smaller ground area for creation of high-quality signboards to identify and locate streets or major landmarks.�
Signage is a street signboard frame structure mounted atop a single steel pole or column.
�GMC has initiated the project of street signage for the entire city. The entire project will be in two phases,� he said.
In the first phase the roads with existing name will be covered with signage, while in the second phase the roads without road name will be identified and named in consultation with stakeholders and then will be covered with signage.
There will be three components in a signage � road/landmark name in both Assamese and English, social messages and advertisements.
The signage project has been envisaged under the PPP model and competitive bidding has been done and a few organizations have been shortlisted.
�Various models of signages have been explored and the final eligible organization will be selected soon to carry out the implementation of the project,� said the official.
