AIZAWL: Mizoram governor Dr Haribabu Kambhampati was briefed public works department (PWD) chief engineer C Lalchhuana and other senior officials of the department regarding the status of various works under national highways and PMGSY projects.
Mizoram PWD officials made presentations on status of national highway projects and PMGSY projects separately.
The Mizoram governor remarked that he wanted to discuss the progress of different projects, reasons for delays in project timelines, constraints and issues which arise in taking projects forward.
He asked the officials to apprise him of issues which need to be taken up with ministry of road transport and highways in this regard.
Speaking about the BG railway line from Bairabi to Sairang, he said four railway stations along this line need to be connected to the nearest villages/habitations and asked PWD officials to send DPRs on these to either MDoNER or NEC.
According to the presentation, Mizoram has a total length of 1509 kilometres of national highways, out of which 650 kilometres are under the PWD and the rest under NHIDCL.
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At present, PWD has six major on-going works to the tune of Rs 2554.98 crores.
Some of these are – NH-108 (Sairang – New Eden, Tripura) which is 94 percent completed; NH-501A (Lawngtlai – Zochachhuah, KMTTP) which is 98.01 percent completed and under NH-2 (Seiling-Tuivai), a stretch of 17.5 kilometres has been completed recently.
Three new projects to the tune of Rs 97.48 crores have been sanctioned and a further six proposals have been sent to MORTH for funding.
Among the new proposals, Mizoram PWD officials apprised the governor about the importance of construction of a permanent bridge over river Tuivai on NH-2, which at present has no bridge and is a vital link connecting Mizoram and Manipur.
Under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) from the year 2000, under 12 phases, 351 projects covering a road length of 4482.732 kilometres worth Rs 2840.08 crores have been sanctioned providing connectivity to 232 habitations.
300 projects have been completed so far with another 51 projects under various stages of completion which have connected 216 habitations so far; 16 habitations are yet to be connected, work is in progress.