Transport Minister inaugurates rupee 4127 crore national highway projects in Nagaland, India

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): Road Transport and Highways Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today virtually inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for 15 national highways projects in Nagaland, India. Chief Minister Nephi Rio, General MoS-RTH (Dr) VK Singh, MPs, MPs, senior officials from central and state governments also joined on the occasion. These National Roads (NH) projects are approximately 266 kilometers in length and cost approximately Rs 4,127 crore.

Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari said the Indian government is committed to the development of the North East and Nagaland and informed that 667 km have been added to the National Roads (NH) network in Nagaland over the years. Past 6 years, accounting for growth of nearly 76 percent. Nagaland’s national road network has now been extended to 1,547 km, from 880.68 km in 2014.

He said almost all districts in Nagaland were now connected, with the exception of a few, to a strong network of national roads. He said the density of the NH network is now 93.30 km / 1000 km² against the national average of 39.90 km / 1000 km². The population density of the national road network in the state is 77.73 km / Lakh population against a national average of 10.80 km / Lakh population.

He added that for the development and improvement of national roads, 55 nos. Works with a total length of 1063.41 km and a total cost of Rs 11,711 crore have been approved over the past 6 years. This includes about 48 km of 3 concrete road projects under the Dimapur City Improvement Project (the largest city in Nagaland) at a total cost of around Rs 1,598 crore. He said that 16 number of works with a length of 690 km amounting to Rs 7,955 crore are underway. Seven other 105 km works amounting to Rs 966.75 Crore are at tender stage. He also said that 11 works with a length of 178 km costing 2,127 crore rupees were to be approved in 2020-2021 with an increased penalty cap. Five works of 524 km costing over Rs.6,000 Cr are at the DPR stage.

The minister asked the Nagaland chief minister to urgently send the damage and land compensation estimates for the Kohima bypass. He also informed that the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) has adopted the 2-lane Kohima-Mao road in Nagaland and the civil works have already been awarded on 30.09.2020. The date of the meeting was declared to be October 20, 2020 and the entrepreneur mobilized on site. Stating that the damage compensation estimate is expected, he added that the same could be accelerated by the state government so that the civil works can start at the earliest.

General (Dr) VK Singh said Nagaland is a beautiful place and hopes the new NH projects will attract more tourist traffic to the state. He informed that of the 14 projects, for which the foundations were laid today, 11 will be executed by NHIDCL and 3 by the State PWD through the road wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) .