UPA govt to boost development in North East

Shillong, Nov 15 (UNI) The UPA government at the Centre has approved major projects in the North East since 2004.

Official sources here said under non-lapsable central pool of resources since June, 2004, 187 projects at an estimated cost of Rs 1681.44 crore had been sanctioned in various sectors, including roads, bridges, power, water supply, health, education and irrigation.

This included Rs 906 crore under roads and bridges, Rs 250 crore under power, Rs 199 crore under health, Rs 161 crore under water supply.

The North Eastern Council had released Rs 958.86 crore for NE states for various projects in the past two years. This included Rs 532 crore in transport &communication sector, Rs 141 crore in medical&health sector and Rs 74 crore in power and water.

NEC approved construction of 31 roads (1357.17 km) during 2004-05 and 2005-06 within an estimated cost of Rs 1188.19 crore and released Rs 358.24 crore to the state governments during these two years.

To improve facilities, the NEC had supported construction of inter-state bus and truck terminals and released Rs 23.47 crore during 2004-05 and 2005-06 for this purpose.

Air connectivity within the North East had been improved by inducting four 50-seater aircraft during the 10th plan at an estimated cost of Rs 175 crore. During 2004-05 and 2005-06 a total of Rs 70 crore was released to Alliance Air for the operation and maintenance of these aircraft.

During the past two years, six system improvement schemes had been approved at an estimated cost of Rs 76.69 crore.

Special Accelerated Road Development programme in the North Eastern Region (SARDP-NE) covering improvement and upgradation of about 7616 km at a rough cost of over Rs 15,000 crore had been conceptualised and initiated to connect all state capitals with upgraded national highways, provide connectivity to all the district headquarters, improve connectivity to the neighbouring countries and provide road connectivity to backward and remote areas.

The programme would be implemented in two phases. Implementation of Phase "A" comprised 1310 km at an estimated cost of Rs 4618 crore and was envisaged to be completed by 2008-09.

Preparation in respect of 5122 km road under Phase "B" of SARDP-NE out of total 6306 km had also been approved by the government.

927 km stretches of national highways had been identified and included under NHDP-III for four-lane on Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis.

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