Government okays upgrade of 6,418 km of roads in northeast

The government has approved the upgrading of 6,418 km of roads in the northeastern states under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North-East (SARDP-NE), DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday.

"The ministry of road transport and highways formulated the SARDP-NE for upgrade of 10,141 km road stretches of national highways and state roads in the year 2005-06," the minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

"Out of 10,141 km of roads included under SARDP-NE, 6,418 km has been approved by the government for implementation under Phase A and the Arunachal Pradesh Package of Roads and Highways and balance 3,723 km has been approved only for preparation of DPR (detailed project report) under Phase B of SARDP-NE. Targets and allocation are not fixed state-wise," he said.

According to the minister, the funds allocated in 2009-10 was Rs.1,200 crore (Rs.12 billion) of which an expenditure of Rs.659 crore was incurred.

In 2010-11, Rs.1,045 crore was spent of the allocation of Rs.1,500 crore, in 2011-2012 Rs.1,940 crore of Rs.1,950 crore, in 2012-13 Rs.1,826 crore of Rs.1,860 crore, in 2013 Rs.3,009 crore against Rs.2,994 crore and in 2014-15, Rs.2,843 crore out of Rs.4,000 crore.

In the current fiscal, out of the total budget of Rs.4,000 crore allocated for the purpose, Rs.2,416 crore has been spent till the end of June.