Checkmating China: India to build a 1,748-km-long “frontier highway” along LAC by 2027
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With the Chinese making relentless attempts at incursion along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and threatening India’s security, the country is all set to build an over 1,700-km-long “frontier highway” close to the India-Tibet-China-Myanmar border in Arunachal Pradesh where the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops unsuccessfully tried to infiltrate recently and returned wounded.
According to media reports, the Government of India will build a 1,748-km-long highway, just 20 km from the international border, by 2027.
The two-lane highway, NH-913, will aim to stop infiltration in the border areas and will be built by the Union Transport Ministry.
“Nearly 800 km of the corridor will be greenfield, as there is no existing road on these stretches. There will be some bridges and tunnels as well. We have chalked out the plan to complete the sanctioning of all works in 2024-25 and usually, it takes around two years to complete construction. Different packages will get completed as we progress while the entire project is expected for completion by 2026-27,”, the reports, quoting an official, said.
The highway will start from Bomdila and pass through Nafra, Huri, and Monigong. It will pass through Jido and Chenquenty, close to the China border, and end at Vijaynagar, near the India-Myanmar border.
The new highway would provide a big boost to the easy movement of defense forces and equipment to the border areas. China has also been building infrastructure on its side of the LAC.
In 2016, the government, in its project “empowered committee on border infrastructure,” recommended conducting surveys and preparing reports on the border areas in consultation with the defense ministry, state governments, and the Department of Border Management.
In 2018, the Centre notified the corridor in Arunachal Pradesh as a National Highway, entrusting the responsibility to the transport ministry to build it.