Governance of infrastructure development in North-East India - Emerging issues and prospects for road development
- 2016
- p.471-489.
- Jul-Sep
The Government of India has embarked on an ambitious plan to construct strategic roads in border areas on the Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar border as well as within the region. This will greatly add to the stock of roads in the NER and serve the needs of the local population in addition to strategic needs. While substantial investments for roads have flowed into the region, issues such as road network planning, maintenance, and process improvement have not received required attention. The emphasis has largely been on sanctioning new roads, neglecting maintenance of the existing ones, an undesirable situation further exacerbated by the languid approach often leading to serious time and cost overruns. The present government is focusing on the governing of road development in North-Eastern region, for which a number of new projects are being launched independently and in collaboration with international agencies or foreign countries. The prospect of road transport in North-East is bright in the near future. Infrastructure deficits in NER will require committing adequate public funding, particularly on roads. There is an urgent need to strengthen the governing capacity of the road construction agencies. The Central and state governments have to focus on the governance of infrastructural development, particularly roadways in theNorth-Eastern region for which there is need for formulation of effective policy. - Reproduced.