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Two workers, raised on a telescopic crane, are seen drilling holes in the hill opposite Patkai Bridge, near Chümoukedima Town on September 28. The work is part of the ongoing four-laning of the existing Dimapur-Kohima road, National Highway 29, a Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North East (SARDP-NE) Project under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC). According to worker on the ground, after the holes are drilled, steel rods will be inserted inside as structural frameworks for concreting the stretch to prevent landslide. From Patkai Bridge, the four-lane road goes towards right towards Assam, bypassing Dimapur. The SARDP-NE programme, a mega road development programme in North East and Sikkim launched by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in 2005, has been enlarged from time to time, since September 2005. The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), a fully owned company of the MoRTH, is the principle implementing agency of the programme. The current project, first awarded in 2016 and 2017 under different packages, are running behind schedule and has missed the extended “Target date of completion as per contract” by the NHIDCL, due to various reasons, including ongoing the COVID-19 pandemic which temporarily halted construction in 2020 for some time. (Morung Photo)
