Poor road links a bane for NE

Headlines Vol. 3 Issue No. 25

April 16 -30, 2007

Poor road links a bane for NE

Inadequate road connectivity is one of the reasons for the economic backwardness of the North East Region as overall road length in the region is much less than the national average, said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. In a memorandum to the Union Surface Transport Minister, TR Baalu, the Chief Minister said that the overall road connectivity in terms of per 100 square kilometers in the North East is only 32.30 kilometer against the national average of 100 kilometer. He said that the State highways and the major district roads in the region have not been developed as per requirement. In Assam, only 2820 kilometer of roads have been identified as state highways and not a single state highway is developed as a two-lane road. He pointed out that two lane carriageways are essential for delivery of goods and services and in several other states of the country, the state highways have already been developed into two lane roads.

Gogoi pointed out that Assam and the other states of the North East are not connected by exhaustive railway network like the other parts of the country because of the rough terrain and that is why road connectivity plays a major role in the overall development of the region. The road connectivity also plays a vital role because of the increase in the volume of traffic and as per a recent traffic census, the traffic density has shown an annual increase of five percent. This is likely to go up further in the years to come.

The Chief Minister called upon the Union Minister to take steps to connect all the district headquarters of the state by two lane roads to improve road connectivity in the State and said that nine district headquarters of Assam are yet to be connected to the National Highways by two lane roads.

Gogoi said that though four laning of the National Highway 37 is on, the project is likely to be completed in 2012 and as the Highway is the lifeline of the State, the normal maintenance work of the road must continue till the completion of the project.
The Chief Minister said that the State Public Works Department (PWD) is now maintaining only 1241 kilometers of the National Highways in the State and each division of the Department was entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining about 200 kilometers. However, with the transfer of the responsibility of maintaining the National Highways 52 and 44 to the Border Roads organization (BRO), the responsibility of each division has come down to about 150 kilometers, which resulted in under-utilization of existing manpower. He said that to do away with the problem faced by the State PWD, the responsibility of maintaining the National Highways 44 and 52 should once again be entrusted with the State PWD.

Gogoi also said that there were some defects in the Guwahati bye pass of the East West Corridor, constructed by the National Highways Authority of India and immediate steps should be taken to rectify the defects, which resulted in drainage problems and water logging.

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