Imphal, March 11: Stressing on the inevitability of improving road connectivity in the North East region including Manipur, the North East Council, during its second Sectoral Summit held at Shillong on February 8 and 9 has stressed on the need to improve and repair the road connecting Jiribam to Thinungei in Bishnupur district, apart from improving and constructing other roads including NH-39, NH-53 and NH-150.Simultaneously it was also decided that the Engineers of the State PWD would be given technical training and imparted knowledge by the Asian Development Bank in constructing roads in hilly terrain.

Speaking to The Sangai Express, an official source said that the summit which solely discussed road connectivity in the North East States, dwelt on the need to set up a fresh sub-National Highway which would pass through Imphal.

Apart from NH-39, NH-53 and NH-150, which presently connect the State to other parts of the country, the NEC discussed the need to construct the route linking Thinungei in Bishnupur district to Jiribam.

The new route will be known as NH-150 (A).

The State Government has taken a very keen interest on this new route which is otherwise known as the Ganja Route earlier as it would cut down the distance from Imphal to Jiribam to about 160 kms.

This is a sharp reduction from the 220 kms that connect Jiribam to Imphal through NH-53. Moreover the severe inconveniences faced by the people while travelling along NH-53 to reach Jiribam will become a thing of the past, said the source.

An expert team had even surveyed the said route some time back.

Another plan discussed was the development of an Imphal by pass, so that all National Highways may pass Imphal without entering the heart of the capital added the source.

This is another step to control traffic congestion, which has been getting worse with each passing day, said the source further.

Though the Centre had agreed to the proposal to upgrade the Ganja Route as well as set up the Imphal by pass some time back, the actual work is yet to start, informed the source.

The NEC Summit also discussed in detail the East-West corridor being planned by the Centre.

Under the East West Corridor project, road network will be set up which will connect the Western most part of the country to the Eastern most part.

The Eastern end will be Silchar in neighbouring Assam.

Discussions were also held on the possibility of extending the East-West Corridor upto Moreh so as to facilitate the Indo-Myanmar border trade through Moreh in Manipur, said the source.

After minutely discussing the matter, the Summit agreed that the Department of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India would be approached to extend the corridor upto Moreh.

If the corridor is extended upto Moreh, then it would go a long way in facilitating the Trans-Asian Highways, which the Centre is really keen upon, said the source and added that this reason was one major factor for the NEC Summit to moot the extension of the corridor upto Moreh.

Another important decision taken during the two day NEC Summit was to let the Engineers of the State PWD undergo training with the Asian Development Bank for building roads in hilly terrain.

The necessity of imparting special training to the Engineers of the State PWD was mooted keeping in mind the point that Manipur is a hilly State with most of the roads passing through hilly terrain.

Moreover all the National Highways have to pass through the hills of the State.

As per the decision taken, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) will get in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs for the Engineers to undergo the training.

The Summit also took serious note of the extremely poor road connectivity of the North East region, when compared with other parts of the State.

Moreover out of the total surface length of 6880 kms of National Highways in the region, 3725 are not even two lane.

Taking this fact into consideration, the Summit decided to press the Centre to do the needful so that at least all the National Highways in the North East States are upgraded to two lane tracks.

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