SHILLONG, Jan 29: The Union Cabinet is set to give approval to the construction of a 160-km high-speed corridor connecting Shillong with Silchar to be set up on a greenfield alignment at a cost of Rs 25,000 crore, making it one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the Northeast. The announcement is likely to be made shortly.
Once completed, the high-speed corridor would reduce the travel time between the two towns to around four hours and will also help ease travel between Assam, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura.
The four-lane project was conceived in 2017 as part of the central government’s Bharatmala programme.
It is anticipated that the new route will accelerate the region’s economic growth. According to sources, it will be the ideal remedy for the present problems that travellers have on their way to Silchar and other NE states, where poor road conditions and landslides—especially along the Sonapur-Ratacherra stretch—cause significant inconveniences.
According to sources, technical issues now prevent the expansion of highway connectivity between Shillong and Silchar. They emphasised that the optimum course of action in such a scenario is to construct a new highway alignment.
Incidentally, the proposal for the high-speed corridor was placed by the Assam government before Prime Minister Narendra Modi for consideration in December last year.
Opposition to project
As is the case with all development projects in Meghalaya, the high-speed corridor has already faced a setback even before its sanction, with at least four villages refusing to give up their land for the project.
There are reports that residents of Diengpasoh village in East Khasi Hills have expressed their unwillingness to part with their land. Similarly, three villages in West Jaintia Hills — Mawkyndor, Lad Mukhla, and Mukhla Mission — have also declined to provide land for the corridor, insisting that the government should upgrade the existing road infrastructure.
The high-speed corridor is designed with a mostly straight, greenfield alignment, and officials from the NHIDCL have made it clear that altering the alignment would be nearly impossible, as even a slight change could affect large portions of the road.