Background:

North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme” (NESIDS) has been approved by the Government of India as a new Central Sector Scheme on 15.12.2017. Under the Scheme guidelines of NESIDS, 100% centrally funding is provided to the State Governments of North Eastern Region for the projects of physical infrastructure relating to water supply, power and connectivity enhancing tourism and Social infrastructure relating to primary and secondary sectors of education and health.NESIDS (Roads) – to be administered by the North Eastern Council (NEC).

“NESIDS(Roads)”will cover all the eight states of North Eastern Region of India, viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) will administer the NESIDS (Roads) through NEC towards selection, sanctioning, and monitoring of projects under the scheme, in consultation with the State Governments concerned. The steps for planning, implementation will be taken through the Implementing Agencies (IA) of the respective North Eastern State Government in General.

OBJECTIVES:

In keeping with the overall vision of the Ministry of DoNER i.e., “Transforming the North Eastern Region through Development in an accelerated yet sustainable manner, affording access to ease of living to all its citizen”, the broad objective of “NESIDS(Roads)” is to support road infrastructure development in the North Eastern States.The NESIDS(Roads) component of the scheme aims to concentrate development efforts in the North Eastern Region by providing financial assistance for the projects leading tothe creation of physical assets in roads/bridges and auxiliary infrastructure and improve the quality of life for its residents.

SUBMISSION OF NESIDS (ROADS) PROJECTS

1. Identification and prioritization of project proposals by the State/ Central agencies and submission of project proposals for selection to NEC
2. Putting up the project proposal received from State/ Central agencies to MDoNER Committee
3. Selection of the candidate projects by the Ministry
4. Preparation of DPRs and submission of project DPRS to NEC for techno-economic vetting
5. Techno-economic appraisal and vetting of the DPRs by NEC and submission of project proposals for sanction to MDoNER
6. Sanction of projects by the Ministry
7. Release of funds as per extant guidelines of Ministry of Finance
8. Monitoring and evaluation of projects
1. Completion and operationalisation of projects
10. The project proposal viz. Comprehensive Concept Note may be submitted with the details on geo-tagging, scope of work with cost, likely benefits and outcomes clearly spelling out the techno-economic viability of the project along with gap analysis to NEC. MDoNER will examine and scrutinize the project proposal (s) in consultation with NEC and line Ministries concerned. Concerned line Departments of the State/ Central agencies will formulate project proposal in line with the focus area and preferences indicated, while also avoiding any project proposals that may fall under the specified Negative List.

SELECTION/GUIDELINES OF THE NESIDS (ROADS) PROJECTS :

1. Proposals inter SE contributing to road connectivity to every Block/Sub-Division HQ with the District HQ, through already constructed highways or roads. Preference to the proposals which provide connectivity to the districts to saturate the related KPI’s of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) or Multi dimensionalPoverty Index (MPI) either for the entire region or for multiple States or for an entire State.
2. Roads of strategic importance, identified by MHA or MoD or for major connectivity in Areas of Autonomous District Councils
3. Replacement of timber/ Bailey/ temporary bridges having span more than 20 meters on roads identified at 1 and 2 above
4. Proposals for providing road, rail and water connectivity for Economic centres or tourist destination, which is recognised by Ministry of Tourism/ ITDC or falls on tourist circuits developed byMinistry of Tourism/ NEC
5. Proposed road shall provide connectivity to the remote villages, which are not out of the ambit of PMGSY

NEGATIVE LIST:

The following types of projects shall not be supported under NESIDS (Roads)-

1. Projects other than road infrastructure
2. The cost towards land acquisition, relief and rehabilitation and staff establishment components will not be admissible under the scheme
3. Projects which are coverable under any Scheme of the concerned line Ministries of Government of India, and for which the concerned line Ministry has already provided funds or plans to provide funds in future
4. Projects which are not as per latest IRC guidelines. Projects which do not make use of IRC approved new technologies of road construction to ensure cost effective, speedy implementation, use of eco-friendly construction material etc.

MINIMUM PROJECT SIZE:

The minimum project size/ cost will generally be Rs.20 crore for road projects but may be less than Rs.20 Crore in case of bridges. However, in exceotional cases, for reasons to be recorded in writing, the EIMC may recommend smaller size of projects.

PROJECT SITE (S):

It shall be the on us of the project proposing State Departments or their agencies to ensure that the project site should be available unencumbered to be handed over to the IA for taking up project implementation activities. In no case, the scheme funds shall be used for purchase/ acquisition of land/ site for any NESIDS (Roads) project. The GPS track of the proposed alignment of the road/latitude and longitude of the project site; in case of projects spread across multiple locations the coordinates of all sites, must be indicated, preferably in the concept note itself and necessarily in the DPR.

COST ESTIMATES:

The cost estimates for the projects posed under the scheme should be based on latest Schedule of Rates (SOR) of the State/CPWD, as the case may be. The project cost estimates at the stage of DPR shall be prepared as per the latest Schedule of Rate applicable and technically sanctioned by the designated technical authority of the concerned central/ state line department(s) to whom such powers have been delegated. The techno-economic vetting thereof, shall be further undertaken through the Technical wing of NEC. The reasonableness of cost estimates will be certified by the NEC. In case of any ambiguity, the matter may be posed before the EIMC for appropriate guidance.

OUTLAY FOR ASSAM UNDER NESIDS (ROADS):

ACHIEVEMENT :