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Dimapur, Sep. 25 (EMN): Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton on Saturday asserted that Nagaland was committed to provide quality roads, and would ensure good return of investment in financial and human resources.
He stated this during the inauguration of the North East Special Infrastructure Development Schemes’ (NESIDS) sanctioned construction and widening of road from NH-29 (Sovima village gate) upto Thahekhu village by the Union Minister of DoNER, Tourism and Culture, G Kishan Reddy.
‘As we all know, the road needs to be built and maintained, we shall continue to work for improvements on the technical design standards, specifications, systems and procedures required for the planning and achieving its objectives’, he stated.
He further requested the Ministry of DoNER for more assistance in construction and improvement of the road infrastructure which would help to promote tourism, trade, industry and all round development in every sphere of the society.
He lauded the contractor of the project Vilelie Khamo and sons and his associates for completing the road construction works during the pandemic.
The road project is one out of the seven road projects sanctioned by NESIDS, Patton shared and stated that the remaining six projects were also in good progress although there was a delay due to the pandemic.
‘Nagaland being a landlocked state, roads are the only means of transportation and communication within the state and the socio economic activities of the state depend entirely on the road infrastructure’, he stated.
Union Minister of DoNER G Kishan Reddy, stated that the Central government is ‘ready to give money’ and therefore requested the officers to speed up the road activity on NH-29 and complete the construction works immediately. He said that the four-lane road would be a game changer for Nagaland but the construction has been pending for many years.
‘Road connectivity for every angle is very important’, he said.
‘We are facing many problems for so many years, but now is the time for more development and improvement for employment generation and also time for increasing agriculture activities and improving the living standard of the people of this region’, he said.
The Northeast region is unique and should reach the expectations of the tourists, he said. He also appealed to the citizens to come forward and discuss with the local government to support the development of the region.
“As a DoNER minister, with the responsibility given to me, I will co-ordinate on the behalf of the government of India in the development activities and with commitment we are going to implement all the schemes in the region”, he stated.
Chief Engineer PWD (R&B) Kahuli Sema, in her technical report informed that the work was sanctioned by the Ministry of DoNER on August 29, 2019 under NESIDS for an amount of INR 2196.14 lakh.
Work order was issued to Vilelie Khamo and sons on December, 11 2019 and the work was completed on June 21, 2021 (2 years 4 months 10 days from the date of issue of work order), she informed. She stated that the work was delayed for a year due to total lockdown for seven months.
The Ministry of DoNER has released the 1st instalment of INR 876.32 lakh and the second instalment of INR 1319.82 lakh is yet to be released and a proposal has been submitted to the government, she informed.