Siliguri: Work on Asian Highway II's Bengal stretch has come to a halt as the Centre is yet to grant financial concurrence to Rs 52 crore needed to put in place additional infrastructure which was not part of the original plan.

The AH2 is a 13,177km road that will connect Indonesia with China and is funded by the Asian Development Bank. A 38km stretch of the highway passes through Bengal - from Fulbari (on the India-Bangladesh border) to Panitanki (on the India-Nepal frontier).

Nirmal Mondal, the project director of the AH2's project implementation unit under Bengal public works department, said the construction of the road had started in November 2015.

"The progress of the work was good. But later, some changes were made in the plan. An additional ramp of a flyover in Bagdogra, increase in number of lanes from two to four in Fulbari, construction of service roads near an important establishment of a paramilitary force are among the additional infrastructure of the project and they all entailed an expenditure of Rs 52 crore," said Mondal.

The estimate was sent to the Union surface transport ministry in March. "Although the new projects were approved in principal, we are yet to get financial concurrence and hence, cannot assign contractors to carry out the new works,' said an official associated with the project.

"We were supposed to finish the entire stretch by this year. But now, we think it would take one more year to complete the project," he added.