Itanagar, March 11 Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu assured the Assembly on Wednesday that the vital NEC road connecting the state's Longding district with Nokjan in neighbouring Nagaland will be taken up for improvement under the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund.
Responding to a question by NPP MLA Thangwang Wangham during Question Hour, Khandu informed that a proposal for improvement of about 22 km of the road, excluding the highway portion, has been included in the priority list for CRIF funding from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) during the current financial year.
He said the estimated cost of the proposed work is around Rs 60 crore.
The chief minister informed that the total length of the strategic road is 28.82 km, of which 9.81 km was taken up in 2011 under funding from the North Eastern Council (NEC).
Of the remaining stretches, about 7 km now falls under National Highway-215, around 12 km is under the state Rural Works Department (RWD), while the remaining portion is under the state Public Works Department (PWD).
Khandu said the PWD Longding division has already carried out technical inspections and assessments of the road and submitted the estimated requirements to the Director (Project Coordinator) of the Planning and Investment Department and the nodal authority concerned for further action.
Raising the issue, Wangham, who represents the Longding-Pumao constituency in Longding district, said the road serves as a vital lifeline for the people of the district and provides an important link between the Wangsu community of Arunachal Pradesh and the Konyak tribe in neighbouring Nagaland.