The constitution of the Council marked the beginning of a new chapter of concerted and planned endeavour for the rapid development of the region. This Council has worked tirelessly and ceaselessly for the last 50 years for the socio economic development of the region thereby setting in motion a new economic endeavour aimed at removing the basic handicaps that stood in the way of normal development of the region.
Till the 9th Five Year Plan, NEC could assist and promote Regional Institutes such as:-
- NEPA - North East Police Academy set up at Shillong in 1978
- NEEPCO - North Eastern Electrical Power Corporation Ltd. set up at Shillong in 1976
- NERAMAC - North Eastern Region Agriculture Marketing Corporation in Guwahati established in 1982
- NERIST - North Eastern Regional Institute of Science & Technology, Itanagar, started in 1986
- RIPAN - Regional Institute of Paramedical & Nursing Sciences, Aizawl set up in 1995
- NERIWALM - North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management in Tezpur, Assam established in 1989
- RIMS - Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Imphal established in 1972
- LGBRIMH - Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health (LGBRIMH), Tezpur, Assam established in 1976)
- NESAC – North Eastern Space Application Centre, Shillong established in in 1983
- BBCI - Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer Institute established in 1974
- RDC – Regional Dental College, Guwahati established in 1985
- RNC – Regional Nursing College, Guwahati established in 1977
- RIPSAT - Regional Institute of Pharmaceutical Science & Technology, Agartala, Tripura, established in 1979.
- CBTC – Cane & Bamboo Technology Centre in Guwahati established in 2004 for promoting cane & bamboo technology in the region.
- NETDC – North East Tourism Development Council in Shillong established in 2016 for promoting tourism in the region.
Since its inception, NEC has focused on improving connectivity of the region which has been a major bottleneck for all developmental activities. In its endeavour, the Council has contributed immensely towards the improvement of the inter-state connectivity in the Region. A total of 10,500 KM of roads have been constructed with the NEC funding and handed over to the States for maintenance. Even, the Perspective Plan 2001 prepared at the initiative of NEC has been taken into consideration by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for the development of road infrastructure in the Region. Besides, NEC has till date supported the installation of 694.5 MW of power plants and construction of 2540.41 KM of transmission & distribution lines.
Eleven Inter-State Bus terminus (ISBT) projects have been taken up across different States to ease out inter-state movement of people. Nine of these have been completed and two are under construction in Meghalaya and Manipur. To facilitate movement of essential goods, three numbers of Inter State Truck Terminus (ISTT) - 2 in Assam and 1 in Nagaland have been completed and one in Tripura (Jirania) is under construction.
Since inception, NEC has contributed for the up-gradation/strengthening of the infrastructure of the existing Airports in the region. Improvement of the infrastructure in 5 major airports of the Regions namely, Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Imphal and Umroi have been taken up in collaboration with Airport Authority of India on 60:40 (60% by NEC and 40% by AAI) basis. Out of these, the work for construction of 3 number of Hangers and Apron at LGBI Airport, Guwahati and Extension of Apron at Jorhat Airport have been completed, while the works at other three airports is at advanced stage of implementation. Besides this, 60% of the work for construction of a new Airport in Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh has been completed under NEC funding.
The North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP) a sustainable Livelihood Project is the Flagship Programme of NEC, with support from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The first two phases of the project covered 6 most inaccessible remote hill districts in Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur covering 1326 villages. After the success of the livelihood projects of NERCORMP I & II, the NERCORMP-III was launched entirely out of NEC funding in January 2014 covering five backward districts (Tirap, Changlang and Longding in Arunachal Pradesh and Chandel and Churachandpur in Manipur) to cover 1177 villages. Since 1999 NERCORMP has transformed the life of over 1,19,000 rural women.
NEC has also been providing cash awards called “Chairman’s Sports Award for excellence in International & National Sports Meets by Sportsmen/Sportswomen of NE” to 207 numbers of sportsperson from the NE Region for winning medals in Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and National Games since its introduction in 2008-09. NE region has huge talent tool for the sports like football. NEC is sponsoring a major inter region Annual Football Tournament in memory of Dr. T Ao who was from Nagaland and was the captain of the Indian Football Team playing in London Olympics. Till date, 6 numbers of “NEC Dr. T. Ao Memorial Football Tournament” have been held to promote sporting talents in the region.
NEC has also undertaken development work in various sectors like education, healthcare, agriculture, horticulture, tourism, industries etc. Details of the projects are available under the respective Sectors.
