Eyeing to enhance infrastructure along the China border, a top official of Border Road Organisation (BRO) on Wednesday, 6 February, stated that all strategic roads will be completed by 2022, Hindustan Times (HT) reported.
Speaking to the daily, BRO director Lieutenant General Harpal Singh said that organisation will complete all 61 strategic roads sprawling Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh by December 2022.
BRO was earlier questioned by parliamentary panels over delays after finishing 34 of the 61 assigned roads. To this, Singh responded:
“It is unfair to calculate progress by taking into account the number of roads completed. The length of the roads completed is the industry standard of measuring progress. We have completed almost 70 percent of the road length.”Lieutenant General Harpal Singh to HT
Singh added saying "If you also count tracks (distinct from black-top roads) that facilitate vehicular movement, we have covered 98 percent of the road length.”
‘35 km Road Along Doklam to be Completed Soon’
The BRO Chief Lieutenant General also said key roads including a 35 km stretch that runs along Doklam are being constructed to improve connectivity. BRO expects the stretch running along Doklam to be completed by March 2019. In 2017, Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a tense 73-day standoff.
Other than the 61 strategic roads, 12 strategic roads along the Chinese border are being constructed by Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Hindustan Times reported citing CPWD’s annual report for 2018-19.
The total length of the 73 roads will be 4,643 km.
According to the annual report, government is also set to give its nod on the construction of 44 more strategically important roads. The project will be split between CPWD and BRO and will cost Rs 21,040 crore. On this development, Singh told HT that the project are being monitored by the highest levels of the government as this will put India at par with China.
PM Modi to Lay Foundation of Sela Pass Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh
Singh’s comments comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh on 9 February to lay the foundation of a tunnel at the Sela Pass.
In the 2018 Budget, the government had announced the construction of Sela Pass Tunnel which will be a part of the Balipara-Charduar-Tawang road - one of the strategic projects along the Chinese border. The tunnel will also reduce the travel time to Tawang, a sector where the Indian Army is heavily deployed.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
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