The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has raised serious concerns over the Dimapur-Kohima railway project, noting that its estimated cost has increased more than seven times while construction progress has remained below 25 per cent.
In a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the committee said the project’s estimated cost had risen from Rs 850 crore, when it was sanctioned in 2006-07, to Rs 6,663.20 crore by May 2022. Despite the sharp increase in expenditure, physical progress stood at less than 25 per cent as of March 2022.
The report, titled Construction of Dimapur-Kohima New Line Project: Northeast Frontier Railway, said the project reflected several shortcomings commonly seen in major railway infrastructure works in difficult geographical regions. These included inadequate initial surveys, delays in land acquisition, repeated changes in alignment, weak contract management and lack of proper financial oversight.
According to the committee, the combination of massive cost escalation and slow progress points to serious shortcomings in project governance and financial management.
The PAC noted that Nagaland has only 11.13 km of existing broad-gauge railway line and remains heavily dependent on road transport for connectivity. The Dimapur-Kohima rail link was sanctioned to improve all-weather connectivity and support the state’s economic development.
However, the report said the project has faced repeated alignment revisions, land acquisition problems, tunnelling design issues, premature procurement of materials and failures in contract management. These issues, it said, have delayed the benefits that the project was expected to bring to the people of Nagaland.
The committee also observed that the initial pre-construction survey carried out by M/s RITES at a cost of Rs 7 crore failed to adequately assess the engineering challenges of the Neo-Himalayan terrain. The Ministry of Railways later engaged M/s AYESA to conduct a fresh alignment review using Digital Terrain Modelling (DTM) and Digital Elevation Modelling (DEM) technology.
The PAC recommended that the Ministry of Railways adopt a stronger pre-project survey system with detailed geological and geotechnical investigations supported by modern technology. It also asked the ministry to review other ongoing and future railway projects in the Northeast to identify and address similar risks at an early stage.
The committee further pointed to irregularities in land acquisition, stating that these resulted in infructuous expenditure of Rs 141.70 crore. It also found that contractors had been granted 42 extensions of time between 2015 and December 2025, leading to an additional price variation cost of Rs 42.38 crore.
The report also noted that signalling materials worth Rs 11.44 crore were procured when civil construction was only about 25 per cent complete, resulting in idle investment. It further highlighted that tunnel radio communication equipment had to be imported from the United States due to the absence of domestic manufacturers, raising concerns over procurement planning.
The committee recommended that the Railway Ministry strengthen its system for granting extensions of time in railway projects located in hilly and difficult terrain. It said every extension should be supported by proper documentation and subjected to detailed financial scrutiny before approval to improve accountability and prevent avoidable delays.
