Nuklutoshi inspects four lane road works

[caption id="attachment_84781" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Minister for National Highways, Nuklutoshi Jamir, Commissioner & Secretary Himato Zhimomi, other govt officials and officials from Gayatri Projects Ltd and Ramkay ECI (VJ) at one of the sites in Pherima on November 21.[/caption]   KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 21: With the commencement of the four lane highway project on National Highway 29, Minister for PWD (National Highways), Mechanical and Elections, Nuklutoshi Jamir along with a team of government officials Monday inspected the ongoing works in some of the sites at Sechü Zubza, Peducha and Pherima. The minister was accompanied by Commissioner & Secretary for NPWD, Himato Zhimomi and a team from State Quality Control Board led by its chairman, Wepretso Mero, and members including Er. Vitoshe and Er. Peter Solo. During the inspection, the minister reminded the contractors that the highway serves as a lifeline for both Nagaland and Manipur and therefore pressed for quality work and timely completion. The four lane highway project is being supervised by the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) under Ministry of Road Transports & Highways. The stretch from Patkai Bridge till Pherima, a stretch of 30 km which comes under package 1 & 2, is being carried out under the supervision of Ramkay ECI (JV), while Gayatri Projects Limited is overseeing the works from Peducha Check Post till Jotsoma By-pass road (Package 3), which has a stretch of 14 km. At the site, the minister enquired the contractors if there had been any hindrance or disturbance from the landowners during the earth cutting. To this, both the companies, represented by their project managers, denied any such incidents till date. The minister and the government officials were also informed by the contractors that, so far, there have been no untoward incidents, in the form of taxation or extortion from any party. Meanwhile, Jamir said the State government will render its fullest cooperation to the concerned companies till the completion of the project. The commissioning target for the four-lane highway project is three years. It may be mentioned that the first phase began in the month of October, 2016. The Commissioner & Secretary, Himato Zhimomi also pressed both the companies for timely completion of the four-lane highway. He reminded the contractors stating that the highway will soon become the No. 1 highway for South East Asia and further towards the implementation of the “Act East Policy.” The minister and his entourage first visited one of the sites at Sechü Zubza, and proceeded to Peducha and later on to Pherima. The project manager of Gayatri Projects Limited, A Murali Krishna informed that they have completed 1.6 km road cutting between Peducha and Sechü Zubza. Krishna assured that they have the target to complete a stretch of 5 km by next year April. At Pherima, the minister and the commissioner & secretary, after finding out that there were only three excavators at the site, told the project manager GVP Rao to bring more excavators so that major bulk of road cutting is done before the next monsoon. Manager of NHIDCL, Rishinandan, who was also present during the inspection, gave assurance that the concerned ministry will do its best to push for timely completion of the said project. He also informed that they have floated tender for the stretch between Pataki Bridge and Khatkati (Assam).