The Union Minister made several announcements for development projects in all the Northeastern States, including Assam.
By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Oscar Fernandes on Friday reviewed the progress of National Highway works and other centrally sponsored road projects of all the Northeastern States at a meeting held at the Assam Administrative Staff College in Khanapara, Guwahati.
Speaking at a press meet, Fernandes said that a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was held on July 18 last to review the status of development projects in the region and discussed steps to accelerate the same. The Prime Minister also took note of the various demands of the NE states, Fernandes said.
Union Minister Oscar Fernandes (L) with DoNER minister Paban Singh Ghatowar (R) during the review meeting at Administrative Staff College in Guwahati on Friday 2nd August 2013.PHOTO BY DHRUBA JYOTI BORO.
DoNER Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar who was also present at the meeting said that an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has been constituted to expedite infrastructure projects in the Northeast.
The review meeting on Friday was held to discuss the issues and problems faced by the road projects implementing agencies, ie., the State Public Work Departments, Border Road Organization (BRO) and the National Highways Authority of India following complaints over delay in completion of the projects.
Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Sathyanarayana Sarvey, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Nabam Tuki, Chief Minister of Manipur Okram Ibobi Singh, Assam Minister for Social Welfare Akon Bora, Assam Minister for PWD Ajanta Neog, Secretary to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Vijay Chibber and Chief Secretary to the Government of Assam PP Varma were also present at the review meeting.
The Union Minister made several announcements for development projects in all the Northeastern States, including Assam. He announced that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) has decided to carry out a feasibility study for the newly declared National Highway NH-127 B connecting Srirampur (on NH-31 C) to Phulbari via Dhubri including construction of a bridge over river Brahmaputra. Besides improving the connectivity for Assam, this would also provide an alternative shorter connectivity between Nongstoin in Meghalaya with West Bengal and will provide greater access to Assam and Meghalaya, the Minister said in his announcement.
The MORTH has technically vetted the proposal of the Ministry of DONER for construction of a new bridge across river Barak to connect Silchar town as an alternative to the existing Sadarghat Bridge.
He also announced that the MORTH has decided to widen the NH-37 between Numaligarh — Jorhat — Demow — Dibrugarh to 4-lane standards on BOT (Annuity) basis, and RFQ for the same has been invited.
Secretary to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Vijay Chibber also announced that henceforth all works by PWD and BRO will be implemented under EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) mode instead of the conventional item rate contract system for effective implementation of projects.