Imphal, Dec. 8: Objection by villagers may hamper the implementation of the Manipur government's ambitious road project in the Greater Imphal area.

The Asian Development Bank has agreed to fund a 46km long and 30-metre wide ring road in the Greater Imphal area. The cost of the project is Rs 346 crore.

The bank has appointed New Delhi-based rehabilitation expert M.K. Mohanty to do the survey of the villages to be affected by the project, which is expected to be implemented within a period of five years.

The Okram Ibobi Singh government is working hard to start the project, which will pass through residential areas of eight villages in Imphal East and its neighbouring Sadar Hills of Senapati district, from early next year.

Works minister Kh. Ratankumar Singh said the ring road would help mitigate traffic woes in Imphal.

Imphal has become one of the most congested towns in the country with the number of vehicles increasing every day. There are more than two lakh vehicles and traffic congestion has become a headache for commuters, official sources said.

A field survey of the ring road has already been completed and once the report on the number of houses to be affected and the amount likely to be involved in the resettlement of the affected people is submitted to the bank, the project would start, the source added.

An expert team from France had also conducted a joint survey with state PWD officials on the condition of various roads and crossings in Imphal.

The residents of these eight villages formed a joint action committee to protect their houses and lands.

'The road project will wipe out more than 800 houses and this will put the affected people in great difficulties,' Athuan Abonmai, the co-convener of the joint action committee and a resident of one of the villages, told The Telegraph.

He said the government officials had never consulted the villagers on the project.

The residents of these eight villagers wanted that the road be constructed on non-residential areas, he said.

The action committee submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Imphal on November 30 to attend the concluding function of Sangai Festival, urging him to review the project to protect the land and houses in the villages.

Earlier, the committee submitted a memorandum to the chief minister with the same demand.

'We will agitate and the government will be responsible for any unwanted development if our pleas go on unheeded,' Abonmai said.