Itanagar: The Border Roads Organisation’s (BRO) Project Brahmank Chief Engineer, S.C. Looniya, has announced that the double-laning of the 32-km Pene-Tato stretch of the strategically important Aalo-Mechuka road in Arunachal Pradesh’s Shi-Yomi district will be completed by March 2026.
Looniya acknowledged that the project has been delayed, citing land acquisition issues as the reason.
The BRO aims to finish the road’s formation-cutting quickly to avoid inconveniencing commuters with road closures and equipment movement. “The stretch with all parameters will be completed, so that people get a safe, secure, satisfactory-level road connectivity,” Looniya stated, adding that the goal is to provide all-weather connectivity from Kaying to Tato as soon as possible.
“We are committed and are working vigorously to extend NH-13 to far-flung areas of Tato,” he said.
The chief engineer, however, maintained that black-topping of the road will take some time.
On the Tato-Mechuka stretch, Looniya said the 14 bridges along the Tato-Mechuka stretch have been awarded to a contractor and work on these bridges are in various stages.
He said the work on the 12-km Yarlung-Trijunction road, including the 140 ft steel modular bridge has started and will be completed within two years, while the 16-km Yarlung-Lamang road has already been completed.
The DPR for the 14-km Lamang-Lola Road is under preparation, he said.
He said the roads under the National Highway Single Lane (NHSL) will provide road connectivity to forces stationed in forward areas.
He further said that the Migging-Tuting road will be completed soon.
Only 15 km of formation cutting is left, and the surfacing work is being planned this year, he said, adding that if weather permits, the work will be completed by March 2026.
“If the government allows, we are willing to take up the maintenance of the NH-13, Akajan-Likabali-Bam road,” he added.
The road will be beneficial for the movement of BRO personnel stationed in Daporijo (Upper Subansiri), Aalo (West Siang), Yingkiong (Upper Siang), and Mechuka (Shi-Yomi), he stated.
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The Akajan-Likabali-Bam-Aalo road was constructed by BRO in the 1960s before it was awarded to the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd in June 2015 for double-laning.
