The Centre is planning a 630-km highway corridor connecting Siliguri in West Bengal with Guwahati in Assam and Shillong in Meghalaya at an estimated cost of ₹61,500 crore. A separate expressway connectivity project between Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and Siliguri is also being taken up to establish faster road connectivity between Uttar Pradesh and the Northeast.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced the projects at an event on Monday, stating that the two corridors, once completed, will provide high-speed connectivity between Uttar Pradesh and the northeastern region.
The 630-km corridor will combine construction of new greenfield stretches with the upgradation of existing highways to provide seamless connectivity along the route. The first section will cover 400 km between Siliguri and Guwahati and is estimated to require an investment of ₹30,000 crore. The alignment for this section is currently awaiting approval.
The Siliguri-Guwahati section is planned to strengthen connectivity between West Bengal and the Northeast, including the strategically important Siliguri corridor. Gadkari described the larger 630-km route as an important road link for the northeastern region.
The second section will connect Jorabat near Guwahati with Barapani near Shillong through a greenfield highway. The proposed route will reduce the existing distance between the two locations from around 100 km to 66 km. Travel time is expected to come down from about two-and-a-half hours to around one hour.
The third section will connect Shillong with Silchar through a 165-km greenfield highway. The proposed road will shorten the existing 230-km route to 165 km. Gadkari said the work order for this section is expected to be issued in November, with travel time projected to reduce from around eight hours to four hours.
The ministry is also developing an expressway connectivity project between Gorakhpur and Siliguri. Together with the 630-km corridor, the project is intended to establish a high-speed road connection between Uttar Pradesh and the Northeast through Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya.
Gadkari also outlined the scale of ongoing road development in Assam. As many as 265 projects covering around 4,700 km are currently under implementation in the state, with an estimated cost of nearly ₹2 lakh crore. Another 31 projects covering approximately 1,470 km have been planned at an estimated cost of ₹92,000 crore.
The planned corridors are part of the Centre’s wider efforts to strengthen highway connectivity across the Northeast. The projects will combine new greenfield roads and improvements to existing highway infrastructure to reduce travel distances and journey times between key locations in the region.