To match China, India fast-tracking border projects

New Delhi, May 7 (PTI) With China making strides in
building of infrastructure along the border, India is
fast-tracking the construction of strategic roads in the North
East and Ladakh, completing much of the work and aiming to
finish "bulk" of projects in two years.
Border Roads Organization (BRO) Director General Lt Gen
S Ravi Shankar said high priority is being accorded to these
projects which are closely monitored at the highest level.
"We are responsible for maintenance of 15,000
kilometers of roads in border areas. We have also built 19
airfields and 36 kilometers of bridges on these important
roads," he said.
About 63 per cent of work on 27 roads in Arunachal
Pradesh and 12 in Ladakh is complete, he told reporters here.
"By 2013, we would be able to complete work on bulk of
the roads. There cannot be a deadline for the last road as
there are some very tough nuts to be cracked and we are trying
to find the solution," Shankar said.
Asked whether environment clearances were creating
obstacles in construction of these roads, he said, "We need to
take forest clearance in some areas to widen roads or to
construct roads in Gangtok (Sikkim) region. The local
government has been helpful in sorting out these problems."
He said the BRO has been undergoing a restructuring
process since 2007 and has purchased equipment worth Rs 200
crore.
Orders for equipment worth another Rs 166 crore will
materialize in the next two to three years, Shankar said,
adding with the help of improved equipment, BRO is now able to
construct five kilometers of roads and nine metres of bridges
every day.
BRO has also constructed roads in Bhutan, Mayanmar,
Afghanistan and recently built a runway in Tajikistan.
This year the organization received a budget of Rs 5000
crore which it would be using to purchase state-of-the-art
machines to negotiate roads in mountains and rugged hilly
terrain, he said.