DIMAPUR, Oct 11 - Nagaland Chief Secretary R Binchilo Thong today stressed that the four-lane National Highway-29 between Dimapur and Kohima, which is under construction, should be extended to link Kohima and Imphal by 2022. He also maintained that the proposed rail link between Dimapur and Zubza should be extended to enable Nagaland to get a stake in the expected trade with Myanmar and other ASEAN countries via road and rail connectivity.
Thong was speaking at the two-day regional conference on �Good Governance Initiatives� under the sub-theme, �Capacity Building/Technology/Best Practices by Aspirational Districts� in Kohima. The conference concluded today.
Thong said South East Asia begins from the North Eastern States of India. As such, the ethnic composition of the people of the North East region can make the trade and commerce interface smoother, he added.
The Chief Secretary cited the reasons as to why Nagaland was lagging behind. Lack of good road connectivity, inadequate power supply, skeletal IT and telecom facilities, lack of capital formation and poor banking culture, unavailability of investments and poor access to markets were enumerated as the reasons for the backwardness of the hilly State.
Thong said the greatest challenge is to ensure that the young people of the State are educated and trained at par with their counterparts in the rest of the country so that they can compete on a global stage to secure jobs and initiate startups and social enterprises.
Vasudha Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India, expressed happiness that Nagaland had agreed to host the 30th regional conference on good governance and was able to conduct it smoothly by involving all the North Eastern States.
