Lok Sabha Question No. 394 (STARRED), answered on 2016-12-14
Subject: Lack of Infrastructure in NER
Ministry: DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION
Asked by: VISHNU DAYAL RAM

## Government of India Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region

## LOK SABHA

## Starred Question No.*394

To be answered on Wednesday, December 14, 2016/Agrahayana 23, 1938 (Saka)

Question

## Lack of Infrastructure in NER

†*394. SHRI VISHNU DAYAL RAM:

Will the Minister of DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of lack of infrastructure in the North Eastern Region (NER) and if so, the details thereof, State-wise;
- (b) whether  any  assessment  has  been  made  to  ascertain  the  ideal  level  of infrastructure  and  other  facilities  ought  to  be  in  place  in  NER  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (c) whether lack of infrastructure has hampered the industrial growth of the region; and
- (d) if  so,  the  corrective  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  address  the problem?

## ANSWER

The Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region [Dr. Jitendra Singh]

- (a) to (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. *394 for answer on 14.12.2016.

- (a) Government  is  giving  emphasis  on  development  of  infrastructure  in  the  North Eastern Region. The status of roads, railways  and power in  different States of North Eastern States is given at Annexure- I.
- (b) The level of infrastructure is dependent on the topography, natural climatic factors, availability of resources, keeping in view the demand  for such infrastructure.  In this dynamic environment, the ideal level of infrastructure would also keep on changing. Infrastructural requirements of the North Eastern Region in respect of connectivity have been assessed by the Government from time to time.  Some  of  these  include,  Vision  2020  document,  approved  by  the  North Eastern  Council;  Report  of  National  Transport  Development  Policy  Committee; Perspective  Transport  Plan  for  Development  of  NER  and  Report-cum-Detailed Project  Report  for  Transmission  and  Distribution,  which  have  highlighted  the need to strengthen infrastructure in North Eastern States.
- (c) Industrial  growth  depends  on  many  factors  including  quality  of  infrastructure. The geographical remoteness of the region impacts both on the availability of raw material  and  access  to  markets  and,  therefore,  lack  of  connectivity/cost  of transportation does hinder the growth. However, the growth rate of Gross State Domestic  Product  in  Industrial  Sector  and  also  in  Manufacturing  Sector  at constant  2004-05  prices  in  five,  out  of  eight  North  Eastern  States,  was  higher than the National Average Growth Rate during 2005-06 to 2013-14.
- (d) Government  has  taken  a  number  of  initiatives  to  further  develop  the  transport and  communication  sectors  in  order  to  enhance  the  connectivity  to  the  North Eastern  Region.  A  note  on  the  activities  undertaken  by  the  Government  for upgradation  of  the  infrastructure  is  at Annexure-  II .  The  progress  is  regularly monitored and reviewed at various levels.

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Annexure - I Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of the Lok Sabha Starred

Question No. *394 for answer on 14.12.2016 .

Status of Infrastructure in North Eastern Region

| States            |   Road density(Km road per 100 Sq Km area) |   Length of railway lines per 100 Sq. Km |   Power supply position: %surplus / deficit (-) |
|-------------------|--------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| Arunachal Pradesh |                                      17.99 |                                     0.01 |                                            -2.4 |
| Assam             |                                      76.15 |                                     3.11 |                                            -4.1 |
| Manipur           |                                      59.79 |                                     0.01 |                                            -4.2 |
| Meghalaya         |                                      40.11 |                                     0.04 |                                             0   |
| Mizoram           |                                      34.52 |                                     0.01 |                                            -2.8 |
| Nagaland          |                                     107.9  |                                     0.07 |                                            -2   |
| Sikkim            |                                      82.1  |                                     0    |                                             0   |
| Tripura           |                                     181.57 |                                     1.84 |                                            -1.9 |
| NER               |                                      56.14 |                                     1.02 |                                            -3.1 |
| INDIA             |                                      96.06 |                                     2.03 |                                            -0.7 |

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (d) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question No. *394 for answer on 14.12.2016 .

## A.  Railways:

The Ministry of Railways has laid a great emphasis on improvement in Railway infrastructure  in  the  North  Eastern  Region.  20  major  railway  projects  consisting  of  13 new lines, 2 gauge conversions and 5 doublings, having aggregate length of 2624 km at a cost of  Rs.52030 crore have been taken up in North Eastern Region.  An expenditure of Rs.21,336 crore has been incurred on these projects upto March, 2016.  An outlay of Rs.5040 crore has been provided for 2016-17 for these projects and residual liabilities of some completed projects.

In the last three years, following major developments have taken place in North Eastern Region:

- (i) Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh has been connected to the National Capital by a direct train.
- (ii) With commissioning of Balipara-Bhalukpong line after gauge conversion, Arunachal Pradesh has been provided with second Broad Gauge connectivity.
- (iii) Entire  MG track on North Bank of Brahmaputra, running very close to AssamArunachal border, has been converted into Broad Gauge with commissioning of Rangiya-Murkongselek Broad Gauge line.
- (iv) Meghalaya has been brought on railway map of the country with commissioning of Dudhnoi-Mendipathar railway line.
- (v) With commissioning of Lumding-Silchar Broad Gauge line, the Barak Valley has been   brought on Broad Gauge network of the country.
- (vi) Agartala, the capital of Tripura has been brought on Broad Gauge network.
- (vii) Manipur State has also been connected with Broad Gauge  network  by commissioning of Arunachal-Jiribam gauge conversion work.
- (viii) With  commissioning  of  Kathakal  -  Bhairabi  Broad  Gauge  line,  the  State  of Mizoram has come on BG network.

## B.  Roads:

The  Ministry  of  Road  Transport  and  Highways  has  formulated  the  Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North-East (SARDP-NE), for upgradation of 10141 km road stretches of National Highways and State Roads in the year 2005-06. Out of 10141 km of roads included under SARDP-NE, 6418 km, which inter alia includes 5219km of NHs, has been approved by the Government for implementation under Phase 'A' and the Arunachal Pradesh Package of Roads & Highways. Balance 3723 km (2210 km of NH + 1513 km of State roads) has been approved only for preparation of DPR under  Phase  'B'  of  SARDP-NE.    Further  as  part  of  National  Highway  Development Project  (NHDP),  Phase  -II  in  the  North  East,  the  East-West  Corridor  stretching  from Srirampur to Silchar in Assam of 670 km has been taken up under NHDP, Phase -II. In addition,  102  km  length  of  NH-44  has  been  sanctioned  during  2015-16  under  NHDP, Phase-III in North Eastern States, at a cost of Rs.479.20 crore. So far, work in 4884 kms. have been sanctioned/awarded and 2068 kms. has been completed. Work in about 597 kms. of the East West Corridor has been completed.

National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) set up by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is undertaking balance projects under SARDP-NE in North Eastern Region.

## C.  Civil Aviation:

With respect to the Civil Aviation, there are 11 operational airports i.e. Guwahati, Tezpur  (Civil  Enclave),  Jorhat  (Civil  Enclave),  Lilabari,  Dibrugarh,  Shillong,  Dimapur, Silchar,  Imphal,  Agartala  and  Lengpui,  12  Non-operational  airports  i.e.  Rupsi,  Shella, Tura, Kailashahar, Kamalpur, Khowai, Turial, Ziro, Daparizo, Along, Passighat and Tezu in NER. One Greenfield airport is under construction at Pakyong, Sikkim.

There  are  eleven  operational  Airports  in  the  North  East  Region,  including Bagdogra of West Bengal (considered as part of North-East Region since it is gateway to  Sikkim  and  Sikkim  Airport  is  yet  to  be  commissioned).    Out  of  this,  seven  airports (Agartala,  Dimapur, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Imphal, Lilabari & Shillong) are  with Airport Authority of India (AAI) and three are IAF airports (Jorhat, Silchar & Tezpur) where AAI have Civil Enclaves. The airport at Lengpui (Mizoram) belongs to the State Government Of the twelve operational airports, the Guwahati and Imphal are International and all the other airports are domestic.

For  improving  the  air  connectivity  in  North  East  Region,  AAI  had  taken  up  a number of infrastructure development works at various airports in the past decade and is  planning number of development works in coming years.  The objective is to make Guwahati  as  Inter-Regional  Hub  and  Agartala,  Dibrugarh  &  Imphal  as  Intra-Regional Hubs.    For  this,  construction  of  Maintenance  Hangers,  Extension  &  strengthening  of Runways, Extension & strengthening of Apron, construction of New  Terminal Buildings/Extension  &  Modification  of  Existing  Terminal  Buildings,  etc.  are  planned  in these  airports.  In  addition  to  the  above,  development  works  are  planned  for  other airports  also  like  Extension  of  runway  suitable  for  A-320  type  of  aircrafts  at  Shillong, New Terminal Buildings at Agartala, Guwahati, Silchar & Jorhat.

Two  Greenfield  airports  are  also  considered  or  taken  up  at  NE  Region  viz. Pakyong (Sikkim) and Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh).  Out of this, AAI has already taken up  the  construction  of  Pakyong  airport  and  the  work  is  in  progress,  PDC  December, 2017.

There are twelve non-operational airports in the Region, out of which, there is a proposal to develop and operationalise eight - Along, Daparizo, Passighat, Tezu & Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh,  Tura in Meghalaya , Rupsi in Assam and Kailashahar in Tripura. Out  of  this,  AAI  has  already  taken  up  the  project  work  at  Tezu  for  developing  and operatinalizing for ATR-72 type of Aircraft, PDC December 2018.  DPRs submitted for developing and operationalizing the airstrips at Along, Daporizo,  Passighat, Ziro  and Tura to NEC for the Grants-in Aid.  Rupsi Airport has to be developed by IAF as a joint use airport and AAI will construct a Civil Enclave. For development of Along, Daparizo, Passighat, Ziro, Tura and Kailashahar Airports, the Master Plans were already given to the concerned State Governments and requests made for provision of land.

## D.  Telecom:

To improve the Telecom capacity in the country, the following schemes are being implemented/planned  with  financial  support  from  Universal  Service  Obligation  Fund (USOF)  to  provide  telecom  facilities  to  rural  and  remote  areas  of  the  North  Eastern Region, as  below :

- (i) On 10.09.2014, the Government approved a proposal to implement a Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region (NER). The Project envisages to provide mobile coverage to 8621 identified uncovered villages  by  installation  of  about  6673  mobile  towers,  installation  of  321  mobile tower sites along National Highways and strengthening of transmission network in  the  NER.    The  estimated  cost  of  implementation  is  Rs.5336.18  crore.    The Project would be funded from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
- (ii) The National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project, renamed as BharatNet was planned  in  2011,  to  connect  all  Gram  Panchayats  (approx.  2.5  lakh)  in  the country,  including  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  of  North  Eastern  Region  through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) utilizing existing fibers of  CPSUs viz. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited  (BSNL),  Power  Grid  Corporation  of  India  Limited  (PGCIL)    and RailTel and laying incremental fibre wherever necessary, to bridge the connectivity  gap  between  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  and  Blocks  for  providing broadband connectivity.
- (iii) The Government has set up International Internet Gateway (IIG) at Agartala by availing service from the Bangladesh Submarine Company Limited. Now, Tripura is  the  third  State  in  the  country  to  have  such  a  gateway  after  Mumbai  and Chennai.

## E. Power:

As per the National Electricity Plan, capacity addition of 5595.6 MW was planned for the North Eastern Region during the 12 th Plan (2012-17). As on 30.11.2016, capacity addition  of 1386.6 MW  has  taken  place.  The  likely  capacity  addition  in  the  balance period of 12 th Plan i.e. 01.12.2016 to 31.03.2017 is 1341.4 MW.

## Strengthening of Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure:

In order to strengthen the transmission and distribution infrastructure in NER and Sikkim, Government of India has given investment approval to following two Intra-State schemes.  For  these  schemes,  Powergrid  has been  appointed  as  'Design-cumImplementation Supervision Consultant' by Ministry of Power, Government of India. The State  Governments  will  facilitate  the  process  of  land  acquisition,  various  clearances, right of way etc. so that project could be completed within the scheduled period of 48 months. Details are given below:

## (i) Comprehensive scheme for strengthening of transmission  and distribution system in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim:

The investment approval for comprehensive scheme for strengthening of transmission and distribution system in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim was given on 10 th October 2014. The estimated cost of scheme is  Rs.4754.42 crore. (April, 2013  price  level).The  scheme  will  be  implemented  as  a  Central  Sector  scheme through PGCIL.

## (ii) North Eastern Region  Power  System  Improvement  Project  (NERPSIP) Tranche- I :

The investment approval for North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project  (NERPSIP) Tranche-I in  Six  States  of  NER (Assam, Manipur,  Mizoram, Meghalaya,  Nagaland  and  Tripura)  was  given  on  1 st December,2014.  The estimated cost of scheme is Rs.5111.33  crore (February, 2014 price level). The scheme will be funded by Government of India through the budget of Ministry of power and World Bank on 50:50 basis.

Status of Implementation of Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) in North Eastern Region:

Under DDUGJY, 2,123 projects worth Rs.10,331.25 Crore covering electrification of  19,094  unelectrified  villages,  intensive  electrification  of  35,147  Partially  electrified villages,  electricity  connection  to  24,80,158  BPL  Households  in  the  country  including feeder segregation, Strengthening of sub-transmission &   distribution network, Metering etc.  have been sanctioned. Out of which, electrification of 16,536 unelectrified villages, intensive electrification of 21,370 Partially electrified villages and electricity connection to  16,72,881  BPL  Households  have  been  achieved.  An  amount  of  Rs.5,922.11  crore have been released to the States.

During 2016-17, Total number of 1,839 un-electrified villages and 941 Partially electrified  villages  have  been  electrified,  and  electric  connections  to  18,202  BPL households have been provided upto 30.11.2016.

## F.    Shipping/Inland Waterways:

Apart from River Brahmaputra in Assam (NW-2), 19 more waterways have been declared as National Waterways by 'National Waterways Act 2016' in the NE region. Feasibility Study / Detailed Project Report of the new waterways are underway and as per  the  outcome  of  the  study  reports,  further  contours  for  development  of  these waterways would be drawn up.

Development  of  the  following  works  related  to  NW  2  (River  Brahmaputra)  are being undertaken by IWAI:

- (a) Fairway development & navigational aids;
- (b) Operation and maintenance of fixed / floating terminal infrastructure at Hatsingimari,Dhubri, Jogighopa, Pandu, Tezpur, Silghat, Vishwanathghat, Neamati,  Bogibeel,  Sengajan,  Dibrugarh  and  Oriumghatto  facilitate  berthing  of vessels and loading / unloading of the cargo in the vessels ;
- (c) Construction of Roll on-Roll (Ro-Ro) terminal at Dhubri : The project for construction  of  RCC  Jetty  with  Ro-Ro  facility,  bank  protection,  storage  sheds, administrative building, internal roads etc. is being implementedby CPWD at a cost of Rs. 46.69 cr. The work is expected to be completed by March, 2017.

Development of ship/vessel repair facility (Slipway) in North East:To facilitate dry docking  and  repair  of  vessels  in  NER,  construction  work  for  a  slipway  at  Pandu  has been taken up in February 2016 at a cost of Rs 50.75 crore. Project is expected to be completed by December, 2018.

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