The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has enhanced the allocation of funds for expenditure under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North Eastern Areas (SARDP-NE) related works during FY2020-21, the ministry has said in an official release.
Following the revision, almost double the amount originally allocated would be allowed for road development. Against the earlier Rs 3.9 billion expenditure envisaged to be incurred from National Investment Fund (NIF) during the fiscal, a sum of Rs 7.6 billion has been set aside for the same period. Of this, Rs 3 billion is specifically marked for the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The strategically important state of Arunachal shares a long international boundary with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
Additionally, the allocations for national highways in the Northeastern region under 10 per cent mandatory pool fund has witnessed an increase in the last five years. A sum of Rs 45.2 billion was allocated for the year 2016-17, Rs 52.65 for the year 2017-18, Rs 62.10 billion for the year 2018-19 and Rs 60.7 billion allocated for the year 2019-20.
For the FY2020-21, a sum of Rs 67.8 billion has been allocated under the fund.
The Central Government has undertaken a massive road development programme under the SARDP-NE scheme in the region. Under Phase-A of the scheme, 6,418 km (5,998 km actual design length) has already been identified for development at an estimated investment of about Rs 304.5 billion, out of which 3,356 km has been completed and 1,961 km is under construction.