KAZIRANGA, Dec 29 - The Central government has sanctioned Rs 2.5 lakh crore for the construction of new roads in the northeastern region. This was announced by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari after the completion of the meeting with Chief Ministers and State PWD Ministers of the region here today.
This is the first time in the history of India after Independence that such a huge amount of money for roads in the North East has been announced. Assam�s share is Rs 1 lakh crore.
Gadkari said that the share for Arunachal Pradesh is Rs 25,000 crore, Manipur Rs 22,000 crore, Sikkim Rs 17,000 crore and Meghalaya Rs 8,000 crore.
Altogether around 14,000 km of roads will be constructed with this fund. A decision was also taken to construct five new bridges across the Brahmaputra, Gadkari said.
The Union Minister said that review meetings would take place between the State Chief Secretaries along with officials of the National Highway Infrastructure Development Cooperation every three months. He added that contracts with some of the firms involved in road construction are being terminated for lack of progress in work.
When pointed out by this correspondent about the road connectivity to South East Asian nations, Gadkari said that road connectivity with Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh had already been taken up to expedite trade and investment and a separate fund of Rs 25,000 crore has been earmarked.
He said that as per the request of the Assam government, a ring road will be constructed in Guwahati by the Centre, provided proper land acquisition is done by the State government.
