Kohima, July 29 (DIPR): The Commissioner & Secretary, Works & Housing, Temjen Toy in a press communiqué has informed all concerned on the status of National highways in the State.
“This communiqué is being issued in order to inform the general public on the status of the National Highways under the State PWD, namely, the NH-61 and the NH 155,” the Commissioner stated. The newly created PWD (National Highways) is now looking after the maintenance and construction of both the National Highways in the State.
The erstwhile State Highway 1 was declared as the National Highway 61 in 1999. It covers a distance of 240 kms and stretches from Kohima to Jhanji on the Nagaland-Assam border near Amguri. Over the past ten years various improvement works have been carried out and at present about 50 kms of widening works is being undertaken. Another 30 kms will be taken up for widening during the current year.
The National Highway-155 (Mokokchung- Tuensang-Kiphire-Jessami) covers a distance of 326 km. which was being maintained by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and taken over by the State PWD in 2007. Subsequently, the Department has taken up 17 jobs on the Highway under the Improvement of Riding Quality Programme (IRQP) at various locations. Meanwhile, the MoSRT&H has approved for upgrading the NH-155 from Single Lane to Double Lane which is to be taken up in a phased manner. The first phase covers a distance of 95 km. from Mokokchung to Tuensang for which Consultants have been appointed by the MOSRT&H, GOI. The Consultants are actively carrying out the survey works and preparation of the Project Reports for this stretch.
It is to be understood that works of the National Highways are directly funded by the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways (MoSRT&H) and all works are carried out in phases as per the guidelines and the procedures of the Ministry. Therefore, improvement works for the whole stretch of any National Highway cannot be taken up at a time.
The Communiqué also stated that whilst carrying out improvement works on the National Highways, it has been the experience of the Department that on many occasions landowners have not been very cooperative in that unreasonably high demands are made on Contractors by way of commissions as well as high rates for local materials. This hinders the progress as well as quality of works.
The Department is committed to its vision of improving road connectivity in the State and believes that every citizen is a stakeholder in this endeavour. The Department would, therefore, like to appeal to the public in general to not only bear with the present condition of the roads, especially NH-155, but also seeks its cooperation for speedy and quality implementation of the improvement works now underway.
