Insurgency hits E-W Corridor project of NHAI: Govt

Insurgency has hit a portion of NHAI's East West Corridor project in strife-torn North Cachar Hills district in Assam, causing delays in the project to connect Silchar in Assam to Porbandar in Gujarat, the government has said today.

The 3,442 km East-West Corridor project passes through the states of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat and the work on it was started in 2004.

"Out of the balance 445 km (from 670 km in Assam), 5 works totalling length of 115 km in North Cachar Hills have been foreclosed due to insurgency problems, in addition to delay in land acquisition problem and forest clearance," Minister of State for Highways RPN Singh told Rajya Sabha.

Only 225 km of the 670 km length in Assam could be completed, he said, adding, "the main reason for delay in balance ongoing works are delay in land acquisition, shifting of utilities and forest clearances."

While work is on in several stretches, work for 242 km is yet to be awarded, Singh said saying that the ongoing projects of the corridor was likely to be "substantially completed by December 2011."

Singh said of the total 3,442 km length of the E-W project, four-laning of 2,505 km has been completed.

On steps to expedite the project, he said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has set up 12 regional offices headed by chief general managers for close monitoring and speedy implementation of schemes.

Most state governments have appointed Chief Secretaries as nodal officers for National Highway Development Projects (NHDP) to review progress of pre-construction activities.