Centre sanctions Rs 3,417 crore for 90 infra projects in Northeast states

The Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (MDoNER) has sanctioned as many as 90 projects costing Rs 3,417.68 crore under the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) during the last three financial years from 2021-22 to 2023-24 and the current financial year 2024-25, the Ministry said.

A major chunk of the funds has been for road projects and Assam has been the highest recipient with an allocation of Rs 1,392 crore while Arunachal Pradesh was in the second spot with an outlay of Rs 603.91 crore.

Sukanta Majumdar, minister of state, MDoNER said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that the projects sanctioned under NESIDS are executed by the State Governments of the North Eastern Region (NER) and the primary responsibility of monitoring these projects lies with the concerned State Governments.

The MDoNER also closely monitors the progress of the ongoing projects at different levels. The Ministry has set up Field Technical Support Units (FTSU) in all eight Northeast states.

To strengthen the monitoring mechanism of the ongoing projects under the various schemes of MDoNER inter-alia including NESIDS, the SOP for engagement of the Project Quality Monitors (PQMs)/Third Party Technical Inspection Units has been issued in February 2024.

The projects costing up to Rs 20 crore were being inspected by the PQMs and for bigger infrastructure projects, with project sizes more than Rs 20 crore, the government engineering colleges in NER have been empanelled as Third Party Technical Inspection (TPTI) agencies for monitoring these projects, he explained.

The NESIDS scheme of the Ministry of DoNER has two components: NESIDS(Roads) and NESIDS Other Than Roads Infrastructure (OTRI). Under NESIDS (Roads), projects leading to the creation of physical assets in roads/bridges and auxiliary infrastructure only are considered for sanction.

Under NESIDS (OTRI), projects leading to the creation of infrastructure for Primary and Secondary Health care, Primary and Secondary Education, water supply, solid waste management,

Industrial development, Civil aviation, sports, telecom etc, with project sizes between Rs 5 crore to Rs 50 crore, were considered for sanction. All the Northeastern States were eligible for sanction of projects to the extent of their normative allocations as applicable under NESIDS, the minister added.