The Four Laning of the National Highway 'NH 37' through the Kaziranga National Park - Is it Economically Feasible after Taking into Account the Environmental Impact?

Abstract

The paper analyzes the proposal of four laning the national highway NH 37 through Kaziranga National Park under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North-East (SARDP-NE) of the National Highway Authority of India. The four laning of the highway will have a huge environmental impact on the whole Kaziranga - Karbi Anglong landscape. It will increase the barrier effect on the movement of wildlife from Kaziranga to Karbi Anglong foothills during flood. The animal mortality due to barrier effect will increase. The paper uses the technique of calculating the intrinsic value of wild life to calculate the cost of environmental impact due to animal mortality. Then a cost-effectiveness analysis is done to answer the question Is the widening of national highway NH 37 through Kaziranga National Park to four lane is economically feasible? From the cost effectiveness analysis it is inferred that the environmental impact of the proposed construction is very high and an alternate route through national highway NH 52 minimizes the cost and is economically more feasible.