Several road and transport infrastructure development projects have been taken up by the concerned Ministries and Departments of the Central Government in North Eastern Region (NER), which, inter-alia, include:

Road connectivity: Government has taken the specific initiative for improvement of connectivity within the region by programs such as SARDP-NE, Bharatmala-I, etc. and with rest of India through East-West Corridor program. During 2024-25 till May, 2024, a total of 78 km of National Highway road have been constructed in NE States. During 2024-25 till June, 2024 a total expenditure of Rs 2,859.00 crore has been made on NHs in NE States.

Air connectivity: The number of airports has increased to 17 by 2023 as compared to 9 in 2013. The traffic movement has also increased by 113% in last 10 years. Under UDAN scheme of Ministry of Civil Aviation, 194 valid fixed wing and Helicopter routes are awarded in North Eastern States, which will help in attracting tourist, investors and add to ease of doing business.

Rail connectivity: In order to improve rail connectivity within the North Eastern States and with rest of India, 18 Railway infrastructure projects (13 new nines, 05 doubling), of total length of 1,368 km costing Rs 74,972 crore falling fully/partly in the North Eastern Region are in planning/approval/ construction stages, out of which 313 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs 40,549 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.

Waterway connectivity: Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), under its Sagarmala program, has taken up projects worth more than Rs 1,000 crore for the development of North-East states. Total of 20 waterways are operating in NER adding 19 in last 10 years.  The development of 6 ferry terminals at Kurua, Bahari, Dhubri, Guijan, Ghagor & Matmora in Assam worth Rs 310 crores will cater to the transportation needs of commuters, which will ease the current bottlenecks of transportation. Under Indo-Bangladesh Protocol on Inland Water Transit &Trade (PIWT&T), number of waterway routes have been increased from 8 to 10 and Eleven Ports of call and two extended ports of call have been declared in each country under the PIWT&T. Around 4.7 million tonne of cargo moved on the IBP route in FY-2023-24.

In addition, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) is implementing various schemes/packages viz. North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme-Roads (NESIDS-Road), Special Packages of Assam [Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council (DHATC) and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC)], and Schemes of NEC (North Eastern Council), for the development of North Eastern Region under which projects of road and transport are sanctioned. Under these developmental schemes/packages since inception, 1,980 projects worth Rs 23,240.78 crore, including connectivity projects, have been sanctioned.

This information was given by the Minister of State of Development of North Eastern Region Shri Dr Sukanta Majumdar in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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