Noting that "our immediate neighbours have already enhanced infrastructure in proximity to the borders", he said the government has initiated several steps to overcome road blocks such as procedural delays, environmental clearance and shortage of high-technology equipment to hasten the process of building roads in these critical areas.
Addressing the first meeting of the Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry after the new government came to power, Jaitley said, "Based on the strategic reality of our neighbourhood, the government is taking all steps to create matching infrastructure on our side to realise our military potential."
Out of this, 61 have been entrusted to Border Roads Organisation (BRO), totalling 3410 kms. BRO has completed 590 kms on 17 roads.
Work on the balance roads structures are under progress and in different stages of completion.
The army has prioritised 22 roads structuring upto 3000 kms for development.
The works on these roads have been taken up by BRO and are being intensively monitored by the Ministry for early completion, the statement said.
These include delays in obtaining forest/wildlife clearance, difficult terrain conditions, hard road structures, limited working period in a year due to extreme weather conditions, paucity of construction material and challenges posed by natural disasters like flash floods in Leh in 2010, earthquake in Sikkim in 2011, Uttarakhand floods in 2013 and Jammu and Kashmir floods this year.
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