GUWAHATI, May 2 � Work on road projects worth Rs 20,000 crore will be started in the North-east within this year and legislation will be shortly introduced in the Parliament for declaring a number of rivers in the region as national waterways.
Speaking to reporters here today after a review meeting of all the north-eastern states, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari said the NDA regime in New Delhi is committed to the development of infrastructure in the region, including roads and inland waterways.
�Overall, projects worth around Rs 20,000 crore will be started this year in the North-east,� he said. Of the total amount, Assam�s share will be of projects worth around Rs 8,000 crore.
Calling upon the governments of the north-eastern region to fast-track land acquisition and environment clearance, Gadkari said his ministry would consider construction of roads wherever land is provided by the state governments.
�We will bear the cost of construction and then declare such roads as national highways and maintain them,� Gadkari said.
He said the Central government is giving priority to development of inland waterways in the region. �The Brahmaputra is already a national waterway. Legislation will be introduced soon in the Parliament for declaring 13 rivers of Assam as national waterways,� Gadkari said.
As part of the effort to promote inland waterways in the State, a ship repair facility will be set up at Pandu in Guwahati. Construction of the facility will commence by October this year. An additional Rs 50 crore has been sanctioned for a dry dock.
Besides, a high-level jetty at Pandu costing Rs 45 crore will be completed by end of this year along with broad gauge sliding.
�Ro-Ro jetty at Dhubri is to be completed by June 2016 at a cost of Rs 47 crore. Ro-Ro services across Brahmaputra between Dhubri and Hathsingimari will commence by December this year, thus saving 220 km of road travel,� he said.
Gadkari added that funds have been released to the Assam government for creating floating terminals at 15 locations and an MoU has been signed with the Central Railside Warehousing Company for operating the Pandu warehouse and terminal.����
The minister said projects cost more in the North-east on account of the region�s geography as well as the fact that contractors in the region lack expertise for undertaking bigger packages.
He said the Centre has decided that small size packages worth Rs 50 crore or Rs 100 crore will be formed in the North-east to enable local and small contractors� participation and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) will also hold workshops for capacity building of local contractors.
Gadkari said that henceforth building of bitumen roads will be discouraged and focus would be on building cement roads. Besides, soil stabilisation technology will be encouraged in the hilly areas.
As cost of cement has gone up, the Central government has undertaken a rate contract exercise with cement firms to procure cement at cheaper prices.
�As a result, 95 lakh tonnes of cement have been booked by the Central government. We have told the state governments that for undertaking work or public projects they can purchase cement from the Centre. It can be done by website also. This will not only bring down construction cost but also promote transparency through e-governance,� Gadkari said.
He said issues related to land acquisition and forest and environment clearance have been major hindrances in completion of projects. �We have asked the state governments to expedite the process,� he said.
Gadkari said the government is studying codes from Germany, USA and Japan to imbibe the best practices for building roads, bridges and flyovers of international standard.
He said most of the highway projects in the region will henceforth be undertaken by the NHIDCL. The foundation stone for the regional office of NHIDCL to be set up in Guwahati was laid today.
