Centre's dedicated road project in NE to cost over Rs 27k cr

The Transport Ministry has drawn up an estimated cost of Rs 27,232 crore for the 9,740 km of highway improvement work under its dedicated project for the North Eastern region of the country.

"The Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North East (SARDP-NE) covering improvement and preparation of project reports will cost an estimated Rs 27,232 crore," a senior Ministry official said.

The Phase-A of the SARDP-NE, under which the government nod has been received for 2,596 km of highway works, is likely to cost Rs 14,903 crore. A total of 1,710 km of road construction works have been approved by the government under this phase for execution on engineering, construction and procurement (ECP) basis, the official added.

The second phase -- Arunachal Pradesh Package -- is estimated to cost Rs 12,265 crore for 2,319 km of road construction.

The rest of Rs 64 crore of the total cost of SARDP-NE will be incurred on Phase-B, which involves preparation of only detailed project reports.

An amount of Rs 1,200 crore was allocated for the SARDP-NE in 2009-10, of which only Rs 424 crore was spent.

The project was conceived to provide connectivity to all 85 district headquarter towns of the north-east region by at least two-lane road. Upgrading all two-lane national highways connecting state capitals in the region to four-lane standards has also been envisaged under the project.

Ever since the project started in 2006, the government has been able to complete 508 km of highway construction.

Under an EPC contract, the road developer gets an upfront payment for the project from the government.