NEW DELHI: China has not constructed any road in Indian territory, the Lok Sabha was informed today.
Responding to a supplementary during Question Hour, Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said he was not aware of China constructing any road “in our area” in the last two years.
He said 73 roads have been identified as strategic Sino-India border roads, of which 61 roads have been entrusted to the Border Roads Organization (BRO) having a total length of 3417 km which are planned to be completed by 2012.
Out of these, 22 roads of 707.24 km length have been completed and as per the revised schedule, five roads will be completed this year, eight in 2017, 12 in 2018, eight in 2019 and six in 2020.
Parrikar cited delay in forest and wildlife clearance, hard rock stretches, limited working season, difficulty in availability of construction material and delay in land acquisition as key reasons behind slow execution of road projects.
Responding to a supplementary, he said funds would not be an issue for the BRO in completing the road projects and if need be, supplementary budget will be allocated.–PTI
