Guwahati: The 139-day economic blockade in Manipur between November 2016 and March last year severely affected the Northeast Frontier Railway's (NFR) project to connect Imphal.

NFR general manager Chahatey Ram on Wednesday said its spending for the project during the financial year was likely to come down by Rs 1,600 crore owing to the impact of the blockade.

Ram said its spending for the project last year stood at Rs 7,100 of the total allocation of Rs 58,000 crore to improve railway services in the Northeast.

"As you all know the economic blockade had severely affected our work. This year our expenditure is likely to be around Rs 5,500 crore, mainly because of the blockade in Manipur," said Ram while addressing reporters with Railway Board chairman Aswani Lohani, who is on a visit to the Northeast to take stock of the progress of the ongoing projects and the facilities available.

Ram, however, hoped that Imphal would be connected by rail by 2020.

"There is a lot need to be done to improve the facilities. I am taking stock of the problems and accordingly steps will be taken to address them," Lohani said.

On the old coaches being used in the Northeast, he said manufacture of the modern coaches would begin from April 1. Ram said double tracking work, which was sanctioned upto Lumding via Goalpara in Assam, is likely to be completed by 2020 and electrification of tracks between New Jalpaiguri and Guwahati will take another two years.

He said work for railway connectivity with Meghalaya was hit because of denial of land by the autonomous councils. "We will start work the moment the land is allotted to us," he said.

Regarding the Centre's plan to connect Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, the NFR general manager said it would take at least another two years to complete the detailed location survey report before it is placed before the government for approval. "Work on the detailed location survey is on," he said.

The NFR is also facing land acquisition problem for its project to connect Dimapur-Kohima in Nagaland.