Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari has virtually laid the foundation stones of nine National Highway (NH) projects with a total length of nearly 262 kms worth over Rs 2752 crore in Tripura.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister said, nearly 300 km NH length has been added in Tripura in the last six years. Today, there are over 850 kms of NHs in the State. He informed that roads worth Rs 8,000 crore are being constructed in Tripura, and as much as Rs 365 crore have been disbursed towards land acquisition cost in the State between 2015 and 2020. He said, upgradation and development of NHs will improve connectivity to all the districts and major cities.
Gadkari said, very soon two important projects are completing in the State. These are the Feni Bridge and the Udaipur-Agartala road. The 49 km 2-lane with paved shoulder Udaipur-Agartala road worth Rs 750 crore is completing next month. The 1.8 km long Feni Bridge between Sabrum on Indian side and Ramgarh on the Bangladesh side costing Rs 129 crore will be completed by December this year. The bridge is important from social, economic and defence points of view, he said. The distance between Sabrum and Chittagong is 75 kms, and the bridge will ease the transportation of goods from Chittagong and Kolkata ports. An integrated check post is also proposed near Sabrum.
The Minister said, construction of the RCC bridge over river Feni will improve connectivity to the international border with Bangladesh. The 4-lane bypass on western side of Agartala City is under DPR preparation that will further improve the connectivity of NH-8 to NH-108B in the state of Tripura, reduce traffic congestion in Agartala city, and connect Matabari from Airport. The connectivity of Agartala city to Assam Border through NH-108B, 208 & 208A will provide shorter length connectivity. The upgradation work for Agartala to Khowai (NH 108B) and Kailashahar to Assam Border (NH-208A) has already been awarded and upgradation of balance section of Kailashahar to Khowai (NH-208) has been proposed under JICA funding. Bids for this section have already been received and work is likely to be awarded very soon. He added that the 4-laning of NH-08 from Agartala to Churaibari - the lifeline of Tripura - is under DPR preparation, which will provide faster and hassle-free Inter-state connectivity with Assam and other States with Agartala.
The Minister informed that DPRs for four projects of 367 kms worth Rs 7523 crore are under preparation for the State. He said, a sum of Rs 11 crore has been released to the State under CRIF, and further sum of Rs 20 crore shall be released soon aftewr submission of the utilisation certificate from Tripura.
The event was presided by the Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, in the presence of Union MoS Dr. Jitendra Singh and Gen (Retd) Dr V K Singh, Ministers from the State, Members of Parliaments, MLAs and senior officers from the Centre and the State.
