The construction of the Tamenglong-Halflong Road on the National Highway-137 is expected to be completed by the end of May 2023, official sources said.
"The road from Manipur's Tamenglong district to Assam's Halflong district (Mahur) would be completed on a stipulated time of May 2023," NHIDCL Project Monitoring Unit Tamenglong general manager Sushi Kumar Rai said during an inspection of the new road construction site on Saturday.
Rai inspected the road construction site along with Tamenglong district deputy commissioner Armstrong Pame.
Speaking exclusively to Imphal Free Press, Pame termed the Tamenglong-Halflong Road ‘People's Dream Road’.
(PHOTO: IFP)
He said that the people of Tousem sub-division have been dreaming of having this road built for the last 60-70 years, and now it is about to become true.
Pame, who is also from Tousem sub-division said that the season of bad roads will be over for the year.
“As the dry season comes, most of the ground works are targeted to be over. The road may not be fully polished by next monsoon but the new road would be two times bigger and better than the present road with good gradient and it would be much more improved,” he said.
The stretch of the 97.32 km road is reportedly divided into six packages and each package is given to one construction company.
The construction work of the 10 km stretch of the road from zero point Tamenglong to Dailong section Package No 1 is being taken up by the Road Ridge Private Limited.
Package No 2 i.e. Dailong village to Old Tamenglong Barak River has a length of 21 km and the construction work is being taken up by Jandu Construction private limited.
For package No 3 i.e. from Barak River to Phellong village having a length of 12.05 km, the construction work is being taken up by one Kalyan Private Limited.
For package No 4 i.e. from Phellong village to Azuram village having a length of 10.7 km is being taken up by Road Ridge Private Limited.
For package No 5 i.e. from Azuram village to Mandeu village Makhru River having a length of 26.45 km and Package no 6 from Mandeu to Jiri River at Mahur which has a length of 16.24 km, the construction work is being taken up by Kalyan Private Limited.
Pame further said the targeted completion time of the road construction is 18 months and another five years of maintenance.
“We can guarantee that for the next seven-eight years, we will have one of the best roads in the country. Beside this road, you can wait in a bus stand to go for a Singapore tour. So, this is the dream of our people,” said Pame.
(PHOTO: IFP)
Meanwhile, the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation, NHIDCL Project Monitoring Unit Tamenglong general manager said that as soon as dry season comes, a 25 meter high double lane RCC bridge would be constructed over the Barak River. The proposed length of Barak Bridge is 225 Mtr. (9 Span *75 Mtr. each). The proposed width of Barak bridge is 16 Mtr, Rai said.
It may also be mentioned that at different locations, Machineries have started to arrive for the development of a camp site and office complex.
Namtiram village authority Chairman ID Arangbou told the Imphal Free Press that the deputy commissioner Tamenglong had given two options i.e. either the road can pass behind the village or through the village.
“If the road passes through the village, at least 15 households have to be relocated. The villagers have agreed to the removal of the houses and requested the DC to make the road pass through the village," he said.
It is worth mentioning here that all the villages along NH-137 in Tousem sub-division have given no objection certificates, stating that they will not demand for any land compensation.
