India's Frontier Highway In Arunachal Pradesh
Pushing one of its flagship projects before the announcement of Lok Sabha polls, the government has allocated a massive sum of over Rs 16,000 crores for various stretches of the Frontier Highway in Arunachal Pradesh since February 6, 2024. Close to around Rs 13,000 crores was allocated in the last 12 days alone according to Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
The Frontier Highway, termed as National Highway-913 is a 1,748 km highway passing through the uninhabited or sparsely populated areas of Arunachal Pradesh. It will have a Greenfield section of 800km apart from the new tunnels and bridges along the India-China Border. The highway will also ease the movement of the defence forces and their supplies.
These highway stretches hold promise of connectivity to border areas. It is critical not just for socio-economic development and growth in the region but also a measure to curb migration and facilitate reverse migration towards the border areas of the state.
It will commence from Bomdila and pass through Nafra, Huri and Monigong. At some points, the toad is very close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), less than 20km from the international border. The road will end in Vijaynagar, near the India-Myanmar Border.
The highway expected to be complete by 2027, will link some of the important strategic locations in the state, Tawang, Mechuka, Tuting, Kibithoo and Dong. Its total cost is expected to be around Rs 40,000 crore. In the last few weeks, the ministry has sanctioned funds for over 770km of this highway.
On March 12, 2024, the ministry allocated Rs 6,621.62 crores for the 265.49 km of the highway for the construction of eight packages transitioning to an intermediate lane configuration. Union Minister of Transport Nitin Gadkari, said the funds were allocated for the six packages ranging from Bile-Migging Section, Kharsang-Maio-Gandhigram-Vijaynagar section and Bomdila-Nafra-Lada section.
Nitin Gadkari said these stretches play a vital role in establishing essential road infrastructure connecting significant river basins, thereby enabling the development of several hydropower-projects within the state.
“This predominantly greenfield road is designed to link uninhabited and sparsely populated areas of upper Arunachal Pradesh, making it conducive for tourism and anticipating a substantial increase in traffic due to heightened activities in the future,” the minister added.
On February 29, 2024, the ministry allocated Rs 6,728 crore for constructing eight stretches on the NH-913 as intermediate lane road spanning 305.50 km. On February 6, 2024, the ministry approved around Rs 3,891 crores in three parts of the highway including Rs 1,014.59 crores for the construction of 61.55km Kharsang-Miao-Vijaynagar-Gandhigram section of the Frontier Highway.
The same day the ministry approved Rs 2,248 crores for the construction of 105.59km Lada-Sarli section of the NH-913. It also sanctioned Rs 626.92 crore for building the 35km Sarli-Huri section of the Frontier Highway.
The work at the highway is expected to generate employment and will check Chinese incursions into Indian territory, the ministry said. The Highway will help in making the mobilisation of security forces around the border faster and seamless.
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