New highway will connect Dimapur-Chumukedima to Maram in Manipur, about 65 Kms in Nagaland
Al Ngullie | EMN
Dimapur, August 4
THE Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has decided to undertake a “feasibility study” for an alternative highway connecting Manipur to Nagaland. The envisaged survey is to explore the possibility to paving an alternative highway to ‘bypass’ Nagaland’s myriad sinking zones, landslide spreads and the state’s “perennial problem of frequent traffic disruptions.”Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Oscar Fernandes reviewed the progress of projects in the North East region yesterday, August 2 in Delhi, according to sources.
Union Minister of State (independent charge) for DONER Paban Singh Ghatowar, Union Minister of State (Road Transport & Highways) Sarvey Sathyanarayana, and several “chief ministers” of the northeastern states were also informed to have been in attendance during the review.
According to the brief from the source, the union minister “will visit each of the states in the North East Region soon this year.” It was also informed that a number of decisions were taken by the ministry in the “review meeting.”
The “feasibility study” by the ministry will explore the possibility of paving a new highway connecting Dimapur/Chumukedima to Maram in Manipur. The study would focus on identifying a road that would be either an alternative highway or an additional highway between Chumukedima, near Dimapur in Nagaland to Maram in Manipur on National Highway-39.
An alternative highway is being necessitated to avoid sinking or landslide zones and the “perennial problem of frequent traffic disruptions” in Nagaland and Manipur along NH-39, a copy of the ministry’s list-of-decisions received here said.
Likewise, the ministry has also decided to extend the Maram (in Manipur) to Peren (in Nagaland) road taken up under phase ‘A’ of the Special Accelerated Road Development Program-NE. The extended Maram road would connect to Dimapur via Ghaspani (both in Nagaland), the ministry said. The objective is to “provide alternative connectivity to Manipur” and also develop about 65 kilometers of roads in Nagaland, the roads ministry said.
Another “feasibility study” for National Highway-127 B connecting Srirampur with
Phulbari via Dhubri including construction of a bridge over river Brahmaputra in Assam is to be undertaken. For Arunachal Pradesh, the government has assured “4-lane connectivity” to the state’s capital Itanagar from Nagaon in Assam.
About a week ago, this newspaper had broken a story about the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approving the Dimapur-Kohima four-lane highway. The decision came after more than 10 years of wait and controversy since former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s announcement of the “gift”.
Originally earmarked as a Rs 400 crore proposal, the CCEA has approved implementation of the “4-laning” of the Dimapur-Kohima National Highway 39 route at a total cost of Rs 1089.87 crore.
