Rs. 61,500-Crore Highway to Link Northeast India

The government plans to build a 630-km high-speed highway corridor connecting Siliguri in West Bengal with Guwahati in Assam and Shillong in Meghalaya at an estimated cost of ₹61,500 crore, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said.

The project is designed to strengthen road connectivity between the Northeast and the rest of the country, with a mix of new greenfield stretches and upgrades to existing highways. Gadkari described the corridor as a key link for the region.

The first major section will run for about 400 km between Siliguri and Guwahati, with an estimated investment of ₹30,000 crore. According to the Times of India, the alignment for this section is currently at the approval stage.

The corridor will also include improvements around the Guwahati-Shillong and Shillong-Silchar routes. A proposed greenfield connection between Jorabat near Guwahati and Barapani near Shillong would shorten the existing route from around 100 km to 66 km. Gadkari said the project is expected to reduce travel time on that stretch from roughly two-and-a-half hours to about one hour.

Another 165-km greenfield section is planned between Shillong and Silchar. Gadkari said the work order for this section is expected to be issued in November. The proposed route would reduce the existing distance from about 230 km to 165 km, with travel time expected to fall from roughly eight hours to four hours.

The announcement comes alongside work on a separate expressway connectivity project between Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and Siliguri. Once both projects are completed, they are intended to create a high-speed road connection between Uttar Pradesh and the Northeast.

The Gorakhpur-Siliguri project is not entirely new. A 2024 answer from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to a Lok Sabha question said the project's detailed project report, including preliminary surveys and alignment studies, was in progress.

For construction and infrastructure companies, the scale of the proposed corridor is significant. It combines new road construction with upgrades to existing networks across a region where terrain and connectivity have historically made large infrastructure projects more complex. The latest announcement, however, does not establish a construction completion date for the full ₹61,500-crore corridor.

The immediate focus will therefore be on project approvals, alignment finalisation and the award of individual construction packages. The Siliguri-Guwahati section, in particular, remains at the alignment-approval stage, according to the Times of India report.

For the Northeast, the significance is broader than shorter journeys. Better highway links can improve the movement of people and goods between the region and the rest of India, while reducing the time required to travel between major cities and commercial centres.

The proposed corridor also places fresh attention on the Siliguri region, a critical road link between mainland India and the Northeast. The combination of the Siliguri-Guwahati-Shillong corridor and the separate Gorakhpur-Siliguri project is intended to create a more continuous high-speed road network between northern India and the Northeast.

The projects are still at different stages of planning and approval. Their eventual impact will depend on how quickly those stages translate into construction on the ground.

Sources

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/high-speed-corridors-to-link-up-with-north-east/articleshow/134553694.cms

https://m.economictimes.com/industry/transportation/roadways/nitin-gadkari-announces-new-expressway-for-north-east-proposed-gorakhpur-to-meghalaya-highway-connecting-up-bengal-assam-meghalaya-to-reduce-travel-time-by-half/amp_articleshow/134555099.cms

https://sansad.in/getFile/loksabhaquestions/annex/183/AU605_7K2HIT.pdf