GUWAHATI / AGARTALA, May 4 (TIWN) The central government will spend Rs.20,000 crore for the development of roads in the northeastern states this year, Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday at Guwahati. Gadkari said the government was also planning to develop inland water transport in the region. "While an amount of Rs.8,000 crore will be spent on road projects in Assam, the government will spend about Rs.6,000 crore for road projects in Arunachal Pradesh," he said at a press conference. Central Govt’s Rs. 20,000 crore will be spent on road projects in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Due to lack of initiatives of Tripura Govt in taking up of road development projects acrossTripura, no fund was allocated for upgrading existing NH-44 and other roads. NH-44 Assam – Agartala corridor is in worst condition due to to apathy of State PWD Dept and Tripura’s Helicopter savvy Ministers. So called poor man’s CPI-M Govt Ministers, Chief Minister stopped travelling by road anywhere outside Agartala; Even for ADC election campaigns, all Ministers travelled by Helicopters across Tripura.

"I assure you that we will start these projects within three months," Central Minister said.

Gadkari said the amount will be spent for improving existing road networks and building new ones, which will foster economic growth in the whole region.

The minister said the projects will be implemented by public sector undertakings, private entities and in public-private partnership mode.

He, however, said the two main problems of the region were land acquisition and forest and environmental clearances.

"I have requested the state governments to expedite the process of granting forest and environmental clearances and land acquisition so that the projects could be completed on time," he said.

"There are also problems of contractors in the region. There are not many contractors who can handle such big projects. We have decided to sanction small projects and will take steps to improve the skills of contractors in the region. This will also help solve the unemployment problem in the northeastern states," said Gadkari.

“Of these, around Rs. 6,000-crore projects will be in Arunachal Pradesh while projects worth of Rs. 8,000 crore will be developed in Assam. The remaining will be for other parts of the region,” Gadkari said.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Gadkari had announced Rs. 5,130 crore worth road projects for Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, to improve their road network.

The new roads were important for the economic growth of the north east, he said, adding that the 102-km Jowai-Ratacherra road in Meghalaya would be built at an estimated cost of Rs. 630 crore. “The Centre has allocated Rs. 5,130 crore for road projects for Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh,” Mr. Gadkari said.

The Jowai-Ratacherra road would be the lifeline for the eastern Meghalaya district of East Jaintia Hills, he said, adding “I assure you that we will start this project within three months.” The Centre, Mr. Gadkari said, had sanctioned three projects in Nagaland. The detailed project reports have been prepared and work on them would start in three to four months.

The projects are four-laning of 48-km Dimapur-Kohima road, the 35-km-long four-lane Dimapur by-pass and the 17-km-long Kohima by-pass, he said.

Mr. Gadkari said the cost for construction of the 100-km road in Nagaland is estimated to be Rs. 2,000 crore. Referring to Arunachal Pradesh, he said a new road project costing Rs. 2,500 crore is expected to start within two months.

On the East-West corridor in Assam, the Union Minister said the project which is important for Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland is expected to be completed by December 2015. “About 570-km road length has been completed under various packages...The remaining length of 69-km is likely to be completed by December 2015,” he said, adding that some packages from Jatinga and ahead in Assam were held up due to land acquisition and landslide issues.

"Similarly, the centre is also planning to develop inland water transport in the states of the region. By October, a ship repairing yard will be built at Pandu in Guwahati. We are going to set up a dry dock and ship building activities will be started here. A high level jetty will also be built at Pandu," he said.