The Union ministry of road transport and highways has floated a tender of over Rs 750 crore for four/six laning of a 12km-long stretch of NH10 (earlier NH 31) that would connect the northwest and northeast ends of Siliguri via Darjeeling More, the principal point to enter the city.

In recent months, this is the second major infrastructure investment that has been initiated by the Narendra Modi government in north Bengal. In April, the Union civil aviation ministry had floated a tender of Rs 1,312.88 crore for the expansion of Bagdogra airport.

The ministry on June 1 invited bids for the construction of the four/six lane road, along with service roads, from the right bank of the Balason river – the connecting point of Asian Highway II – to the Sevoke Military Station, which is located at the northeast end of Siliguri under the jurisdiction of Jalpaiguri district.

“The project would be carried out on EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) mode. This will minimise the time and cost overruns and ensure completion of the project with least costs and greater efficiency. The project is expected to be completed in 30 months,” said a source.

Altogether, Rs 754.72 crore has been approved for the project. In March, Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari had announced that the Centre had allocated Rs 995.04 crore for the project.

Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista said the completion of the project would help ease traffic congestion in northern parts of Siliguri. “It would give a major boost to the connectivity of this region,” he said.

The initiatives for two major projects — expansion of the highway and the airport which had been the long standing demands of north Bengal residents — indicate that the BJP plans to play the infrastructure card to retain its support base in the region. The BJP has seven MPs in the region.

Political observers said along with those two projects, the Centre had also taken up other initiatives like the introduction of train service to Dhaka from NJP, improvement of New Jalpaiguri railway station and electrification of the principal tracks to the Northeast from north Bengal.

“It is evident that the saffron camp would play the development card in the 2024 Parliament elections,” said an observer.