The long spell of rain in Assam and Meghalaya this season, combined with the slack approach of the Centre, spelt disaster for the north-eastern artery — NH40 — that connects the seven North East States. Increased travel time, traffic disruptions and poor connectivity hampered daily life of locals.
To take stock of the situation, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) Oscar Fernandes, with Paban Singh Ghatowar, who Minister for Development of North-Eastern States (DONER) met Chief Ministers and local public works department officials on Saturday ,asking them to closely monitor progress in repair and development of roads.
“Timely and successful implementation of infrastructure projects is vital for accelerated socioeconomic development in the region,” said Fernandes, on his return to Delhi on Sunday.
“A lot of projects have been behind schedule, because of weather conditions. We have laid down timelines for expediting progress of ongoing projects, besides resolving various outstanding issues. So hopefully the first phase of development should see the light of the day by 2016,” he said.
According to MoRTH officials, several decisions were taken at the meeting to facilitate speeding up of delayed works in a time bound manner. The ministry has also announced taking up stringent actions against non-performing contractors.
“We have also asked the local bodies to focus on preparing accurate project reports, which truly reflect the actual ground conditions, progress, and completion status,” said an official from MoRTH.
The Ministry also announced the need for a feasibility study for the important newly-declared NH-127 B connecting Srirampur to Phulbari via Dhubri in Assam, including construction of a bridge over river Brahmaputra.
In the first phase, MoRTH is also aiming to widen NH-37 in Assam to four-lane standards, to provide wider connectivity to Itanagar in Arunachal.
The Ministry has also asked for carrying out another feasibility study for construction of Imphal bypass, and creating an alternative highway between parts of Nagaland and Manipur to tackle perennial problem of frequent traffic disruptions.
MoRTH had started work on ambitious Special Accelerated Road Development Programme (SARDP-NE) in 2010 to upgrade National Highways connecting State Capitals to two or four lane
and provide connectivity to all 88 District Headquarters of North East States by at least two-lane road.
In order to improve roads of strategic importance in border area and improve connectivity to neighboring countries. The phase A of
SARDP-NE including Arunachal Package covers 6,418 km at an estimated cost of Rs 33,688 crore. The project is targeted for completion by June, 2016.