Will the Minister of DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION be pleased to state:
(a) the number of infrastructure development/other projects sanctioned for the development of North Eastern States during the last three years and the current year; and
(b) the financial allocation made for these projects and the time by which it is likely to be completed?
(a)to (b)Fifty four non-exempted Central Ministries/Departments are mandated to spend atleast 10% of their Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes in North Eastern Region (NER). The details of Budget Estimates, Revised Estimates and Actual Expenditure under 10% GBS for the last three years and the current year is given in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Budget Estimates (BE), Revised Estimates (RE) and
Actual Expenditure under 10% GBS
( Rs. in crore)
Year Budget
Estimates Revised
Estimates Actual
Expenditure
2018-19 47,994.88 47,087.95 46,054.80
2019-20 59,369.90 53,374.19 48,533.80
2020-21 60,112.11 51,270.90 48,563.82
2021-22 68,020.24 68,440.26 38,455.57*
Source: Statement 11/23 of the Union Budget, various years
Note: Actual Expenditure figures are provisional and subject to vetting by Ministry of Finance.
*up to 31.12.2021, as reported by 54 Non-exempted Ministries/Departments.
Several infrastructure development projects have been taken up by the concerned Ministries and Departments of the Central Government in NER to enhance connectivity in the North Eastern Region. These relate to improving air connectivity, rail connectivity, road connectivity, waterway connectivity, power connectivity and telecom connectivity in the NER. These inter-alia include:
i. Air connectivity:Total 28 projects have been completed from 2016-17 to 2021-22 with the approved cost of Rs. 975.58 crore and completion cost of Rs. 979.07 crore. There are 15 ongoing projects with sanctioned amount of Rs. 2,212.30 crore, which are likely to be completed by March 2023.
ii. Rail connectivity: As on 01.04.2021, 20 projects costing Rs.74,485 crore for 2,011 km length falling fully/ partly in North Eastern Region were under different stages of planning/ approval/ execution. These include: 14 New Line Projects covering a length of 1,181 km at a cost of Rs.56,553 crore, out of which 253 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs.23,994 crore incurred upto March 2021; Six Doubling/Multi-tracking Projects covering a length of 830 km at a cost of Rs.17,932 crore, out of which 68 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs.2,880 crore incurred upto March 2021.
iii. Road Connectivity: A total of 4016.48 km costing Rs.58,385 crore, are ongoing in NER. These projects were undertaken during the last 5 years. The completed projects in NER cover a length of 3099.50 km at a cost of Rs.15,570.44 crore. The ongoing projects are likely to be completed by May 2024.The major ongoing Capital Road Connectivity projects in NER include the 4 Laning of Dimapur- Kohima Road (62.9 km) in Nagaland; 4 laning of Nagaon bypass to Holongi (167 km) in Arunachal Pradesh; Alternate two-lane Highway from Bagrakote to Pakyong (NH-717A) (152 km) in Sikkim; 2 laning of Aizawl – Tuipang NH-54 (351 km) in Mizoram; 4 laning of Imphal – Moreh section of NH-39 (20 km) and 2-laning of 75.4 km in Manipur.
iv. Waterway connectivity: River Brahmaputra from Dhubri (Bangladesh Border) to Sadiya (891 km) was declared as National Waterway-2 (NW-2) in 1988. The waterway is being developed with fairway of required depth and width, day and night navigation aids and terminals. The facilities created and planned would cost Rs. 461 crore during 5 years (2020-2025). River Barak was declared as National Waterway-16 (NW-16) in the year 2016. It connects Silchar, Karimganj and Badarpur in Cachar valley of Assam with Haldia and Kolkata ports through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) Route. The facilities created and planned would cost Rs.145 crore during 5 years (2020-2025).
v. Power connectivity: ‘North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project’ (NERPSIP) for six States (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland) for strengthening of the Intra-State Transmission and Distribution System (33kV and above) and Comprehensive Scheme for Strengthening of Transmission & Distribution Systems in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim etc are improving the power connectivity in NER. Government, through various flagship schemes such as Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Devel opment Scheme (IPDS) is strengthening sub-transmission and distribution infrastructure including rural electrification. "Saubhagya" scheme was launched in October, 2017 with the objective to achieve universal household electrification for providing electricity connections to all un-electrified households in rural areas and all poor households in urban areas in the country. Since its launch, 26,14,659 households have been electrified in NER as on 31.03.2021.
vi. Telecom connectivity: BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country, including NER. The scope of the project has been recently extended up to all inhabited villages beyond GPs. The project is planned to be completed by 2025.
Installation work on the feasible sites for mobile connectivity in NE States, other than Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, has been completed. Besides (a) Mobile connectivity in Arunachal Pradesh and 2 Districts of Assam, with project timeline of April 2023; (b) Mobile connectivity in Meghalaya and along National Highways on 4G Technology with project timeline of June 2022 - are at different stages of implementation.
In addition, various schemes are implemented by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region viz. North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS); Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources-State (NLCPR-State); Hill Area Development Programme (HADP); Social and Infrastructure Development Fund (SIDF); Special Packages for Assam [Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC); Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council (DHATC) and KarbiAnglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC)]. The details of projects sanctioned under the schemes of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region during the last three years since 2018-19 and the current year is given in Table 2 below:
Table. 2 : Projects sanctioned under the schemes of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region during the last three years since 2018-19 and the current year
(Rs. in crore)
S. No. Name of the Scheme Project sanctioned since F.Y. 2018-19
No. Cost Funds released
i. North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) 112 2589.14 1514.48
ii. Special Packages of Assam (BTC, DHATC & KAATC) 19 270.4 180.94
iii. Hill Area Development Programme (HADP) 41 90 60.36
Under Schemes of NEC, during 2016-17 to 2020-21, 215 infrastructure projects costing Rs. 1,267.48 crore have been sanctioned. Out of these, 15 projects costing Rs.93.83 crore have been completed and 200 projects costing Rs.1,173.65 crore are at various stages of implementation.