Union Railway Minister DV Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday said that his Ministry will invest Rs54,000 crore in the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and said that all the State capitals of the Northeastern States will be connected within next five to six years time.
The Union Minister told this to the media after emerging from a review meeting with the top officials of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) here and said that he would also review the implementation of the ongoing projects every six months to speed up the implementation. He said that the Rs54,000 crore will be spent for various works of NFR in the region including setting up of new lines, upgradation of passenger facilities, construction of roads and bridges and etc.
“All the State capitals of the Northeastern States will be connected with rail links within next five to six years time,” he said while adding that the Bogibeer railway bridge project, which is one of the major railway bridge project in Assam, will also be completed by December 2016.
“I have reviewed the ongoing projects here and I can tell you that we are going to start operation over the Bogibeel Bridge by June 2017. The bridge will be completed by December 2016,” he said.
Gowda also said that the two new railway lines-between Dudhnoi and Mendipathar in Meghalaya and between Harmoti to Nagarlagun-has been completed and that these two lines are awaiting inauguration son. “I am going to request the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come and inaugurate the two newly set up railway lines,” he said.
The Minister further said that the NFR has planned to construct about 450 kms of railway lines by this year and added that completion of the who projects will be helpful for the entire Northeastern States.