New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) The 59th North Eastern Council (NEC) plenary meeting here Wednesday has approved an annual plan of Rs.700 crore for 2010-11 and decided to use the services of IIT, Guwahati and IIM, Shillong for capacity building of state government employees in the region.

According to an official release, the Ministry of Railways assured the NEC meeting that all the capitals of the region will be connected by railways by 2016 at an estimated cost of Rs.17,000 crore.

The release said that after the last meeting of the council, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) sanctioned 10 major roads in eight states at an estimated cost of Rs.703.26 crore. The total length of the roads is 449 km.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India made a presentation and proposed the Brahmaputra Waterway as a ‘dedicated freight corridor’, the release added.