On Sunday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the central government is laying emphasis on infrastructure as well as connectivity development in the Northeastern region of India. While addressing the Natural Allies in Development and Interdependence (NADI)-2022 Conclave at Guwahati, the Union Minister said the Centre is implementing various rail, road and air connectivity projects in Northeast India worth Rs 1,34,200 crore. Sitharaman was quoted in a PTI report saying that the government is carrying out 20 rail projects for 2,011 kilometres, worth an amount of Rs 74,000 crore, which are spread across the northeast region. The central government is also developing 4,000 kilometres of roads in the region at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore, the minister added.
At present, there are 15 ongoing projects for air connectivity in the northeastern region, costing nearly Rs 2,200 crore, the minister said. The minister also said the number of Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Routes has been increased to 10 from the existing eight. She also said work is being carried out to develop the National Waterways on the Ganges, the Brahmaputra as well as Barak rivers. India and Bangladesh have as many as 50 riverine systems, which can be leveraged for all kinds of transportation purposes as the travel cost through water is the least compared to air, rail and road networks, she said.
The Modi government is developing the NW-1 on the Ganges, NW-2 on Brahmaputra and NW-16 on Barak. The Centre, in the last seven-eight years, has attempted to provide better connectivity, Sitharaman mentioned. The entire area between Sadiya and Dhubri in the state of Assam along the mighty Brahmaputra river is being developed for better connectivity. The government is developing a multimodal hub on the Brahmaputra in Guwahati, which includes a ship repairing port at Pandu, four tourist jetties as well as 11 floating terminals.
According to the minister, once the Eastern Waterways Connectivity Transport Grid is completed, it will offer seamless connectivity not only between the northeast and rest of the country but also in the sub-continent, she said. This will offer 5,000 kilometres of navigable waterways. The government of India together with the World Bank is providing big connectivity solutions by removing bottlenecks, she said. Besides, the Centre is also developing several projects focusing on power transmission as well as distribution, mobile network, 4G and broadband connectivity in the northeast, she added.