GOVERNMENT OF INDIA PLANNING COMMISSION NATIONAL TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT POLICY COMMITTEE (NTDPC) REP ORT O F THE WORKING GROUP ON IMPROVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE NORTH EAST FOR TH E NATIONAL TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT POLICY COM MITTEE June, 2012 COMPOSITION OF THE WORKING GROUP Shri Vivek Sahai, Former Chairman, Railway 1 Chairman Board 2 Shri B.N. Puri, Member Secretary, NTDPC Member Chairman Inland Waterways Authority of India 3 Member (IWAI) or her representative Director General, Roads, Ministry of Road 4 Member Transport & Highways Director General, Boarder Roads Organisation 5 Member (BRO) Shri Rohit Nandan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of 6 Member Civil Aviation 7 Joint Secretary (BSM), Ministry of External Affairs Member 8 Executive Director (Projects), Railway Board Member Prof. Mahendra P. Lama, Vice Chancellor, 9 Member University of Sikkim 10 Representative of North East Council (NEC) Member Representative of Planning Commission, 11 Member Transport Division 12 Representative of Customs & Excise Board Member Representative of Asian Institute of Transport 13 Member Development (AITD) Ms. Jayashree Mukherjee, Joint Secretary, 14 Convenor DONER TERMS OF REFERNECE 1) To assess the Transport Infrastructure Deficit in the North East Region. 2) To assess the role of each mode of transport for improving the accessibility and mobility of both people and goods. 3) To make recommendations for provision of transport infrastructure and facilities keeping in view: a. the role of each mode of transport b. the requirement of traffic demand, particularly, that relating to movement of essential commodities c. need to ensure balance between the ability of transport to serve economic development of the region and to conserve enerdgy, protect environment, promote safety and sustain good quality of life. d. need to adopt and evolve suitable technology for cost effective creation, economical maintenance and efficient utilisation of transport assets. 4) To assess transport infrastructure, requirement of providing connectivity with the neighbouring countries with a view to enabling trade between North Eastern Region and neighbouring countries. 5) To assess the investment requirement of Transport sector and to recommend measures to fund the projected investment. 6) To suggest measures to improve the capacity to evolve and implement projects in North East. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................1 II. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................5 III. TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE WORKING GROUP ON NORTHEAST ...............................8 IV. OVERVIEW OF TRANSPORT SYSTEM ...............................................................................9 4.1 Railways ...............................................................................................................9 4.2 Roads .................................................................................................................. 11 4.3 Water Transport .................................................................................................. 12 4.4 Airways ............................................................................................................... 15 V. IMPORTANT ISSUES AND STRATEGIES FOR TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE IN NORTH EASTERN REGION ....................................................................................................... 17 VI. OVERARCHING TRANSPORTATION ISSUES ................................................................... 18 VII. SECTORAL ISSUES ........................................................................................................ 23 7.1 Roads .................................................................................................................. 23 7.2 Air Connectivity ................................................................................................... 45 7.3 Railways ............................................................................................................. 62 7.4 Inland Water Transport ....................................................................................... 86 VIII. PROJECTED REQUIREMENT OF FUNDS ......................................................................... 96 National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC) I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 It is for the first time that while formulating National Transport Policy, a separate attention has been paid to the transport needs of the North Eastern Region. The Working Group decided to look at the situation under three categories: (i) Intra-Regional Need (ii) Inter-Regional Need (iii) Trans Border Movement 1.2 The Working Group also examined the needs for various possible sectors viz. Road, Rail, Civil Aviation and Inland Water Transport to arrive at a holistic picture. 1.3 In a nutshell, our recommendations are as under: 1.3.1 Roads (i) Roads are going to be the mainstay for bringing transformational changes in infrastructure of the region. (ii) It is necessary to form a separate body under the aegis of M/o DONER to monitor the construction activities in the sector. (iii) It is imperative to have a GIS mapping of roads in this region for which MORTH should provide funds to the State and undertake the responsibility without any delay. (iv) There is a need for changing the technology being used for construction of roads to improve their longevity. (v) There is a need to have training institutions to develop skills in the local population for good maintenance of roads constructed both with the present technology and the superior technology whenever adopted. (vi) There is a need for foot suspension bridges in abundance. Final Report – Working Group on Improvement and Development of Transport 1 Infrastructure in the North East for the NTDPC National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC) (vii) While four laning of many routes has been recommended and lot of them have already been sanctioned, the Working Group feels that it would be prudent to have the additional two lane constructed on the other side of the hill so that in case of landslides, the whole route does not get blocked/suspended. It may also help in meeting the environmental considerations. 1.3.2 Rail (i) New railway lines – one connecting the Sittwe Port in Myanmar to Tirap district in Arunachal Pradesh across Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland and another line connecting Dhubri to Silchar via Meghalaya is considered essential to improve transportation in the region. (ii) The railway has now extensive know-how of tunnel construction with their experience of constructing tunnels in Konkan Railway Region and J&K projects. They may revise their alignments, wherever possible, to take the stations closer to the inhabited areas and also reduce distances by making prudent use of tunnels. 1.3.3 Civil Aviation (i) Civil aviation holds the key to not only linking the region to the rest of India but also catalysing trade and commerce with the neighbouring countries. (ii) It would be financially desirable to make a model for bringing in PPP as suggested in the report to develop a viable civil aviation network in the region. (iii) It is felt that bringing in private operators may change the scenario so much that cheap air travel may become possible through induction of smaller aircrafts with better technology for which a onetime capital cost may be met by the Government and the private operators may be asked to operate the services without any dependence from subsidy for day-to-day operations. (iv) In keeping with the geographical contours of the region and the thin spread of population, we are of the view that a hub and spoke model with hubs at Guwahati, Imphal and Agartala should be developed for the region. (v) DONER should catalyse development of meteorological forecasting network in the region to make civil aviation Final Report – Working Group on Improvement and Development of Transport 2 Infrastructure in the North East for the NTDPC National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC) predictable and safe. The necessary investments for that may be provided by the Government through DONER. (vi) Development of skill in the local population not only for operations of aircrafts but also for maintenance need to be developed. This can be done by bringing in an institute not only for developing aeronautical engineers but also for subordinate maintenance staff. This would facilitate night halt of aircrafts at various locations and provide connections in early morning so that local population may be in a position to reach Kolkata/Delhi/Mumbai in the morning hours to attend meetings and return in the evening. (vii) There is a vast network of airports in the region due to the war effort during II World War but many of them are lying dormant. The report has suggested that a few of these airports should be made operative within a time frame for civilian use to provide better connectivity not only for men but also for cargo. (viii) With the above suggestion, it would be possible to provide connectivity for horticulture/floriculture/aquaculture common in the region. 1.3.4 Inland Waterways (i) A large paraphernalia already exists for inland water transport in the river Brahmaputra. Proper usage of this capital is necessary, which can be achieved by entering into a long time treaty with Bangladesh Government to provide access from West Bengal through