Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu on Friday announced that a 156km road to connect Vijaynagar, the remotest circle of Changlang district, with Miao will be built as a major road soon.

It takes around 10 days to reach the desolated and isolated region of Vijaynagar, nestled in the Himalayas along the India-Myanmar border, on foot through dense forests.

The circle is surrounded by Myanmar on three sides and by a vast and thick forest of Namdapha National Park on the other side.

Spread across 8,000 square kilometres, Vijaynagar is unique for many reasons. It was discovered by the Assam Rifles during Srijit II, an expedition, in 1961 under Maj. Gen. A.S. Guraya, inspector-general of the Assam Rifles.

The valley was later named by him after his son.

Addressing a meeting on the sidelines of the launch of his two-month-long Arunachal Rising campaign, Khandu said, “Vijaynagar has huge tourism potential owing to its scenic beauty. A lot of horticulture and agriculture activities can take place here.”

“These potentials have, however, been hampered by lack of proper surface and air communication,” the chief minister said.

“Though former chief minister Dorjee Khandu had approved of conducting a survey and preparing a detailed project report to construct the Vijaynagar road under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, it was delayed owing to improper work allocation,” he added.

The chief minister also assured that an additional 70-metre steel suspension bridge would be constructed beside the Empen Bridge on the 32km motorable road from Miao, which normally gets cut off during the monsoon.

On air connectivity to Vijaynagar, the chief minister said he would take up the issue with the Centre to expedite work on the advance landing ground (ALG) here and it would soon be connected with other six ALGs in the state under the Chief Minister’s Connectivity Scheme.

Khandu also said he will talk to private carriers on starting MI 172 helicopter services in the region for six days a week.