The government is considering a proposal to build 37 more roads with a cumulative length of 875 km along the India-China border. This Rs 13,000 crore work has been proposed under the India-China Border Roads (ICBR) programme. Nearly 70% of these roads under ICBR-III would be built in Arunachal Pradesh, as per the proposal.
Currently, the phase-I and II of ICBR are underway and these involve construction of 1,435 km of roads in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh with an estimated investment of around Rs 1,600 crore.
The ICBR project envisages developing infrastructure along the China-Indian border by constructing strategic roads, including bridges and tunnels, and it’s largely in response to infrastructure development by the Chinese on the other side of the border.
Sources said the proposal of ICBR-III came up at a recently held high-level meeting where the issues delaying the progress of projects under the current two phases of the programme was discussed. There is a proposal to give first priority to develop 22 roads under the ICBR-III as the starting point of these roads are available. For the remaining stretches the start point will be available after completion of the ongoing projects.
“The agencies involved in construction and giving statutory approvals have been directed to fast track the process and complete the ongoing projects fast,” said a source.
The 25 roads under the first phase of ICBR are now scheduled for completion by this December. In the case of the second phase of this flagship road development programme, work has started only in 25 projects out of the total 32 stretches. Work is yet to start in the remaining project due to pending forest clearance and revision in the detailed project reports. Four central government agencies — BRO, CPWD, ITBP and NHIDCL — have been tasked to implement these projects.
Officials said the agencies face several challenges including limited working season due to high altitude, inhospitable terrain, establishment and maintenance of connectivity to move man and materials besides the statutory clearances.
Recently, the government decided to set up a committee of secretaries to fast-track the implementation of infrastructure projects along the border with China. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh.
