Highway Ministry to pump in Rs 33, 688 crore for development 6,418km of highways in Northeast

August 5, 2013

By Bikash Singh, ET Bureau |

(Northeast India will witness investment of Rs 33, 688 Crore for construction of 6418km of roads during the 12th plan period under the special accelerated road development programme (SARDP-North East) and Prime ministers package for Arunachal Pradesh)

GUWAHATI: Northeast India will witness investment of Rs 33, 688 Crore for construction of 6418km of roads during the 12th plan period under the special accelerated road development programme (SARDP-North East) and Prime ministers package for Arunachal Pradesh.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Oscar Fernandes who was in Guwahati on Friday reviewed the progress of National Highway works said around 2000km of roads are sanctioned for this year. This will come up with an investment of Rs 3100km.

Fernandes said that a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was held on July 18 last to review the status of development projects in the region and discussed steps to accelerate the same.

Secretary to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Vijay Chibber also announced that the ministry has also decided to carry out feasibility of Imphal bypass and explore the possibility of highway between Chumukedima near Dimapur in Nagaland and Maram in Manipur. It was also decided to undertake 100 km length road construction to connect Sittwe port in Myanmar.

The ministry has decided for developing 130 km stretch of Agartala Sabroom section of NH-44 to two lane standards this will provide connectivity to Chittagong port through Bangladesh. It was also decided to construct alternative highway to Gangtok.Chibber added time taken for road construction in Northeast India is twice higher than the national average. “Pre construction activity consumes lot of time. Law acquisition is a problem here. State PWD and BRO are not fully geared up.

Source-http://economictimes.indiatimes.com