Bidding process for trans Arunachal highway complete

The technical and financial bidding for a 718-km stretch of the ambitious Rs 5,500 crore Trans-Arunachal highway to be constructed by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has been completed, Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu has said.

Addressing the Independence Day rally after unfurling the national flag, Khandu said that out of the total length of the 1,559-km two-lane proposed highway from Tawang in the western part of the state to Kanubari in the east, the PWD would construct the 418 km stretch for which detailed project reports (DPRs) were under preparation.

The remaining Tawang-Nechipu and Pasighat-Mahadevpur sections are being developed by the Border Road Organisation.

The highway, one of the important components of the Rs 24,000 crore package announced last year by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will run through the middle of the border state touching 11 of the existing district headquarters.

The rest of the five districts including the state capital will be connected with the Trans-Arunachal Highway with links involving construction of another 848 km of two way roads, Khandu said. These roads expected to completed in five years will provide inter-district connectivities in this land locked hilly land where road density is very low and for inter-district movements vehicles have to take routes through neighbouring Assam.

To put the state capital on the air map of the country, the Itanagar green field airport project is under process for sanction. Forest clearance for the land earmarked has already been given and environmental impact assessment is complete, Khandu said.

The defence ministry which signed an MoU with the state government for redeveloping airports at Pasighat, Aalo and Ziro has already started the process for operationalisation of these airports, he said.

The defence ministry has also started work to upgrade and operationalise the advance landing grounds (ALGs) at Tuting, Mechuka, Vijaynagar and wallong, all located close to the international border.

The DPR for the highway connecting Itanagar with the rest of the country will be completed by September and the construction of the road link is expected to take three to four years, he said adding that all the PMGSY roads in the state will be completed by 2011.