Cabinet panel clears expansion of special road project for NE

The cabinet committee on economic affairs on Tuesday gave approval for expansion of the Special Accelerated...

The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) on Tuesday gave approval for expansion of the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme (SARDP) for the Northeast. The expanded Phase A of SARDP will now cover an additional 994 km of roads at a cost of Rs 4,673 crore.

As part of the plan, the Indian side of the famous Stilwell road, which goes from Ledo in Assam through Myanmar into China, will be constructed besides four-laning of 330 km of NH-44 in Tripura.

The expanded SARDP Phase A will now cover road corridors extending across 2,304 km. The original Phase A covered 1,310 km at a cost of Rs 4,618 crore.

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“In keeping with the SARDP objective, the expanded programme will connect state capitals with 2/4 lane National Highways. Accordingly, Aizawl, Imphal and Agartala will get upgraded road connectivity with National Highways.

These three were not part of the original SARDP Phase A,” said a senior official from the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways.

The CCEA has approved tendering for 330 km of four-laning of the Tripura Highway on Engineering-Procurement-Construct (EPC) basis, besides modifying Phase B of SARDP to cover 6433 km. While Phase A is targeted for completion by 2012-13, Phase B has a 2015-16 deadline.

“Under the original SARDP plan, we had started work on 24 km along the Stilwell Road in Assam. Arunachal Pradesh, where the remaining stretches of the strategic road corridor lie, has now been included in the expanded SARDP-NE with a 32 km border linkage right up to Pangsau Pass on the Indo-Myanmar border,” added the official.

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The step comes almost a year after India opened trade passage with China along the ancient Silk Route through the 15,000-feet-high Nathu La Pass, east of Gangtok.

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