The ‘Nagaland Vision 2030’ document was unveiled in December 2016 outlines the broad contours of development which the State envisioned to undertake over the next decades or so. In continuation of its series, The Morung Learning highlights key issues for Infrastructure and Connectivity
Introduction
Infrastructure and connectivity are two basic requirements essential for economic development of a region. Visions 2030’ broadly defined the same into road, rail, air, power and communication.
One of the major issues in the NER in general and Nagaland in particular, the need for infrastructure is vital due to hilly and mountainous areas on the one hand and sparsely populated areas on the other. Speedy provision of infrastructure and connectivity becomes critical for the economic development of the State.
Roadways
The plan for Integrated, Intensive and Inclusive Agriculture Clusters (IIIACs), urbanization and industrialization in Vision 2030 are all projected to be located along the ‘Approved’ and ‘Declared Highways’, the Nagaland Expressway and the Trans Frontier Nagaland Highway (see table). Thus, these proposals need to be pursued and implemented with utmost urgency as there have been instances of undue delay in implementation of some vital sanctioned projects. For example, the Dimapur-Kohima four lane highway, announced by the then Prime Minister of India AB Vajpayee in 2003 and slated to be completed in 2015, has been initiated only now. Similarly the roads under SARDP–NE meant to connect the district headquarters to the State capital have been embroiled in controversy.
The four-laning of AH1 to Moreh and development of highway connectivity to International Trade centres (ITCs) at Longwa, Pangsha and Avangkhu are scheduled to be completed in the medium term plan. It is expected that these will lead to growth of the tertiary sector in the fields of IT, trade, hospitality, logistics, education, medical and healthcare sectors, power transmissions, transit, transport and financial services. The movements of goods and services and passengers to and fro from Nagaland to ASEAN and vice versa will truly make Nagaland the gateway to ASEAN.
Towards this end, in the deliverables of 2030, the Government will implement a two lane National Highway network connecting all the districts. Priority in particular will be given in the next five years to develop the Nagaland Expressway from Tizit to Khelma, the Trans-Eastern Highway from Mon to Avangkhu and the four lane highway from Dimapur to Moreh via Kohima (AH1), thus giving concrete impetus to the Act East Policy.
Further, the road connectivity within the State will be boosted by connectivity with Assam, Arunachal, Manipur, and last but not the least, the Government’s priority in conjunction with that of the Government of India to develop road linkages to Myanmar directly from the identified ITCs.
Maintenance: Apart from National Highways, the State has over 11000 kms of various types of important roads, which connect districts to sub-divisions, villages and agriculture/ horticulture areas. These roads will have to be maintained by the State Public Works Department.
In the next five years, an amount of Rs. 300 crores per annum will be required as per the draft State Repair and Maintenance Policy 2016. Funding for the same is proposed to be from the NLCPR and NEC schemes, apart from States own resources which will have to be mobilized by the Government for the roads sector.
Rail Network
In pursuit of multi-model connectivity, the plan for the railways is to connect Kohima with the rest of the country by a broad gauge railway line by 2020. The foothills of Nagaland are to be connected with a railway network from Tizit to Dimapur. To enhance international connectivity in the railways sector, the government will propose to build a railway line from Dhansripar in Dimapur district to Karong in Manipur which would logically connect to Moreh and touch lines with the network in Myanamr, thereby creating the possibility of concretizing the Trans-Asian Railway line by 2025.
Air Connectivity- Intra State Links
In the field of air connectivity, the goal will be to shift the current airport at Dimapur to Razaphema to accommodate the demands for commerce and cargo that will emerge as the economy gets developed along the envisaged vision. The new airport will have to be created keeping in mind an infrastructure appropriate for an international airport and should be in place by 2025, creating a transportation hub for national and international carriers.
Net Connectivity
In the digital era, internet connectivity is crucial for communication especially in hilly areas where travel is difficult and expensive. Besides assessing real time information on markets and prices, the NER in general and Nagaland in particular are climatically well suited to plug into India’s growing IT commerce.
The status of digital /IT connectivity in the State is through Optical Fibre Cable and mobile technology and current status of connectivity indicates a tele-density of 69 percent. It needs to be raised to 100 percent by 2020 with at least 4G connectivity.
Side by side, the state has an extensive State Wide Area Network (SWAN) in place with 47 (Forty Seven) Nagaland SWAN Point of presence (PoP) Locations as well as services provided by the Common Service Centres (CSC). To create a unified e-Governance infrastructure, Government of India had rolled out National Information Infrastructure (NII) project on a pilot basis at the national level to provide horizontal connectivity upto Gram Panchayat level. Nagaland became the 1st State in North-Eastern region to start the pilot project for NII Peren district. This needs to be extended to the whole State of Nagaland in the next five years.
Way Forward for Digital Revolution
• Internet / Intranet connectivity to all Government institutions including educational institutions. All Government to Citizen (G2C) services should be electronically / IT enabled.
• Adopt e-Office to promote faster delivery of services including online submission of plans, reports etc to Government. This will also help in conserving the environment through use of lesser paper.
• Broadband Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connectivity to every village in the State.
• e-Learning initiatives for schools and other educational services.
• Make Nagaland an Information Technology hub for the North Eastern Region and South East Asia.
• Transform Nagaland into a digital society through transparency and accountability.
• Enable all Government Departments to deliver services to citizens through online system.
• Bring about a comprehensive IT literacy initiative throughout the State.
• Generate direct and indirect employment for the unemployed youth.
• Promote knowledge economy through the use of Information Communication Technologies.
(Source – Nagaland Vision 2030, Government of Nagaland, 2016)
