Road construction takes twice time in NE: Union Transport secy

The implementation of road and infrastructure projects in North-East has been slow and the speed of completion has been almost half than the national average, the Union transport secretary said today.
"North East takes twice the time to complete a project than the national average," Road, Transport and Highways Secretary Vijay Chhibber told reporters here.
Road, Transport and Highways Minister Oscar Fernandes and senior officials from the ministry today held a review meeting of the road projects in North East with chief ministers and representatives of the states from the region.
"Land acquisition and forest clearance are the main issues in implementing the projects. We have the money, but we are getting stuck at implementation," Chhibber said.

"Many state PWDs are not up to the mark in implementing the projects. Pre-construction activities are taking too much time in this region," he added.
The Ministry is implementing an ambitious Special Accelerated Road Development Programme (SARDP-NE) to develop road network in this region, aiming to provide connectivity to all the district headquarters.

The two-phased programme, including Arunachal Package, covers about 10,141 km.
The phase A of SARDP-NE, including Arunachal Package, covers 6,418 km and is estimated to incur an investment of Rs 33,688 crore during the 12th Five-Year Plan. The phase B is in conceptual stage.
Out of that, 2,000 km is planned for the current fiscal at an investment of Rs 3,100 crore, Chhibber said.

So far, about 1,000 km have been completed and the entire project is targeted for completion by June, 2016.
The project is being executed by the state PWDs, Border Roads Organisation, National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.