Nagaland NH-702 alignment: Final decision after verification report, says Zeliang

State deputy chief minister and minister in-charge of national highway (NH) and planning & transformation (P&T), TR Zeliang, Thursday said that final decision on the alignment of new NH-702 Longleng-Longching-Mon-Tizit section would be taken only after the joint verification team presented its report.
Briefing the media persons after a meeting, convened at the conference hall of P&T department to deliberate on alignment of the new NH-702 two-lane road project, the deputy chief minister said the stretch of NH-702 includes Longleng-Longching-Aboi section under Mon district, where three alignment options had been proposed for consideration.
Today’s meeting was held in light of the representation submitted by Tobu-Mopong-Longchang Joint Committee for NH-702.
Zeliang informed that the government had initially planned to recommend Option 1 to Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for extension after a formal consultation.
However, he stated that landowners from 45 villages had submitted a complaint requesting that Option 1 be retained and not replaced by Option 2 or Option 3.
Zeliang said that, as per NHIDCL, Option 3 appeared to be technically preferable, being shorter, straighter, and with a better gradient, while Option 1 involved two to three critical areas that posed engineering challenges.
He informed that a joint technical verification team, comprising the chief engineer (NH), PWD, executive director NHIDCL, commissioner & secretary, deputy commissioner, and public representatives, had earlier been constituted to study the issue and submit a detailed report. “We had decided that a final decision would be taken only after the joint verification team presented its report,” he stated.
Zeliang mentioned that it was earlier assumed the matter had been resolved through the provision of an alternate Border Road and NH-702 project. However, he said the affected villages insisted on the construction of a National Highway and expressed their refusal to accept the Border Road alternative.
He further informed that the technical verification team would now await the consultant team, which is currently in Delhi, before proceeding for field verification. “Only after the verification teams submit their findings will a final decision be taken,” he clarified.
Responding to a query, Zeliang said no decision had been made to adopt Option 3. He noted that about 19km had earlier been deducted from Option 1, but added that the government would allow the BRO to extend and cover the entire stretch, thereby addressing the issue.
Zeliang informed that since the landowners were firm on retaining Option 1, the matter was discussed in the meeting and it was resolved that the final decision would be made only after receiving the technical team’s report.