ABD lends US$200m for North East roads
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved revised cost for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) assisted North Eastern State Roads Investment Programme now called the North East Road Sector Development Scheme.
The cost has been revised to Rs.2,144.56 crore from the earlier approved cost of Rs.1,353.83 crore for construction/upgradation/improvement of 433.7 km long State roads in the North Eastern States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura along with extension of project period up to August 2022.
ADB is providing loan assistance of US$200 million in two tranches for the project “ADB assisted North Eastern State Roads Investment Programme (NESRIP)”, which is to be implemented over five years.
An ADB road survey in 2005 showed that approximately 70% roads were in poor condition, according to an official released on 28 Feb 2019.
The ADB engaged SMEC International PTY Ltd to prepare Detailed Project Report in 2008. Then the Scheme, NESRIP, was approved by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 19 May 2011 with a five-year project execution period.
The Ministry of Development of North East Region (MDoNER) is the Executing Agency. It is responsible for overall coordination with ADB and participating States and monitoring the progress of the project.
A Central level steering committee and Internal Project Management Unit (IPMU) within MDONER, and a State level steering committee and Project Implementation Units (PIUs) has been established in each project State.
The PIUs in each State has primary responsibility for day-to-day project implementation and coordination of both the road works programme and Institutional Development and Capacity Building (IDCB) initiatives.
Each PIU has staff for project management functions in engineering, procurement, contract management, environmental planning and management, social analysis and management, re-settlement planning and implementation, road maintenance, road safety and accounting.
It is also assisted in the operation by construction supervision consultants. fiinews.com
