Govt builds 919 km road in NE Region since 2006-07

The Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (has been implementing ongoing Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North East (SARDP-NE) since 2006-07 for improvement and development of various National Highways, State roads and General Staff roads in North Eastern Region.

So far, work for 3,733 km has been awarded and 919 km road construction completed, said the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region Paban Singh Ghatowar said on December 6. The programme is divided into two parts-SARDP-NE, Phase –A (approved for implementation) and Phase-B (approved for DPR preparation only).

The Minister said that the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), under the Ministry of Shipping has taken initiative for declaring Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of River Barak (121 km) as National Waterway which will provide connectivity to Barak Valley Region of Assam with Haldia and Kolkata ports through designated waterway routes of Bangladesh under the Indo-Bangladesh Inland Water Transit & Trade Protocol.

The project will be implemented in two phases – Phase I (Bhanga-Silchar stretch of 70 kms. – estimated completion time 3 years after declaration of waterway) and Phase II (Silchar-Lakhipur stretch of 51 km.- proposed to commence after completion of Phase I and after assessing realistic potential of cargo from cargo owners/operators in upper stretch.