Border Roads Organization to invest Rs 1,400 crore to build roads in Arunachal Pradesh

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: The Border Roads Organization (BRO) is eyeing to invest around Rs 1,400 crore for different projects in Arunachal Pradesh this year, a senior official said on Monday.

The BRO is already building roads worth Rs 1,000 crore in the State, its additional Director-General for the Northeast PKH Singh said.

"The BRO plans to invest Rs 1,300-1,400 crore in the State this year of the total allocated Rs 20,000 crore," he said.

Forest clearance for roads worth at least Rs 2,500 crore is pending with the State Government, he said, adding that he was working to get those soon.

"I will meet Forest Minister Mama Natung, Chief Secretary Dharmendra and Development Commissioner (East) PS Lokhande to seek their help as many stretches are within the right of way (RoW) of the proposed BRO roads for which land compensation has been paid," he said.

Getting the forest clearances would speed up the work, Singh said.

Some of these are very old projects, such as the Balipara-Chardwar-Tawang (BCT) Road, Elephant Road and Sessa Road in East Kameng district, he said.

While the single-lane Elephant Road has been completed, the work for Sessa Road is pending over forest clearance, he added.

"The alignment of Dirang Bypass, part of BCT Road, is ready and the project is likely to be awarded to contractors this year. About 90 per cent works of Siyom Valley Road in West Siang district are complete, except for a few small patches," he said.

"Completion of these roads will ensure reverse migration in border villagers," Singh said.

On the Arunachal Frontier Highway, the official said the 2,000-km-long road has been conceived as an axis road along the India-China border.

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