As was reported widely in the local media in the run up to the New Year, the Government of India has marked for Nagaland a massive Rs. 1, 130. 67 Crore for a 3-year road development project, arguably the biggest road-related thrust ever for a single road development undertaking since the state attained statehood in 1963. As per a detailed report brought out by this newspaper, a total of around 329 kilometers of Nagaland’s major highways and roads connecting the entire 11 districts would be developed into double-lane roadways within 3 years, starting early in New Year 2011. This project will be under the Centre-sponsored Special Accelerated Road Development- North East Region (SARD-North East). While all the other roads would be double-lane, the Dimapur-Kohima highway would be four-lane. If this is true, then the long awaited four lane of NH-39 as announced by the Atal Behari Vajpayee BJP led NDA government, would finally become a reality after all these years. That brings us to the myriad of problems associated with taking up big projects in Nagaland. Among others some of the problems include project delay-cost escalation, land acquisition, fund misuse, payment of extortions and commissions and at the end of it all compromising the quality of work. With years of neglect and fund misuse, it is no wonder that even after five decades of Statehood we have nothing to show for our road development except potholes and dust.
It is obvious that the Government of India and also the State government are fully aware of the ground reality of taking up development works in Nagaland. Therefore it does not come as surprise to note that the contract for the road project was awarded to the engineering and construction/infrastructure firms, Gayatri Projects and Maytas Infra Limited. It is understood that the contract was floated in Delhi itself through the national tender system. And as per Nagaland government sources, the contract is time-bound and expected to be completed in the next 3 years. While we need to appreciate the wisdom in awarding the contract to an outside agency, it will be of interest to wait and watch how the project is handled given that work will after all be done here in Nagaland. Whether we get quality roads or not is something which we will have to wait. However there is definitely a case for being optimistic after all the firms which will undertake the project have the know-how, technology and also experience. Further more it is learned that the Union Ministries of Roads and Surface Transport will monitor over the funds and project while the State government and the Roads & Bridges department is only a nodal agency to oversee implementation. Hopefully this will ensure proper utilization of funds.
The Nagaland government and the Chief Minister in particular should keep a close watch over the implementation of the project so as to ensure that all necessary support and cooperation is extended to the outside firms while executing their work. Nagaland could well turn out to be a challenging experience even for these well established firms. At the end of the day even if the road project is a huge bonus for the State, the same has to be translated into reality. We need quality roads so that it will benefit the people in the long run. Roads are important, politically as well, although our politicians seem to be unaware of the vital link between good roads and power. Just ask Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who returned to power with a thumping majority in the recently concluded State polls. As per record, construction of over 23,000 km of good quality new roads in Bihar in the last five years was an important factor that helped Nitish return to power.
