Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 4
Two years after work on the essential Nagaland foothills road came to a halt, the state government would likely resume the unfinished task. The Nagaland Foothills Road Coordination Committee (NFHRCC) informed on August 4 that the Chief Minister assured the committee that work will be restarted once the monsoon subsides.
The NFHRCC said that it met CM Neiphiu Rio today and apprised him of the status of the foothills road construction. Only 8km - 5km in the Niuland segment and 3km in Naginimora - of earth-cutting is required for inter-linking the 250km long road along the state foothills bordering Assam.
Building (earth-cutting) of the road had started in December 2013 but it came to a halt in August 2016 after fund pledged by the government stopped for unexplained reasons.
In mid-2013, the government had originally pledged Rs. 80cr in two instalments for the earth-cutting works. The first instalment for the year 2013-14 was Rs. 40cr. The second instalment was reportedly Rs. 30cr but it was reported at the time that it fell short of the 30-crore mark.
If work had progressed as envisaged and funds not delayed, the earth-cutting was scheduled to have been over by the turn of 2017.
Of the meeting with the CM today, the NFHRCC said that Rio “understood the aspiration and desires of the Naga public and assured the committee… the construction will be started” at the onset of the “working season.”
With the regard to the Doyang bridge, near Governor’s Camp in Liphanyan, the NFHRCC said that the contractor assured on July 9 that work will be resumed on a war-footing once the working season sets in.
A key link in the chain, building of the Doyang bridge had started in December 2014 with a 33-month completion timeframe. The opening of the Foothills road will not only make up for the non-existent all-weather roads connecting the districts but it will also act as a viable link between Dimapur and Mon bypassing the roads of neighbouring Assam.
