New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS): Admitting that India is much behind China in building roads along the border areas in the northeast, DoNER Minister Gen V.K. Singh (retd) Monday said the central government needs to give road construction a new direction.

The Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) said the situation would be better in a couple of years.

"A lot needs to be done on roads in the northeast... We (the central government) need to give it a new direction," he said at a press conference here.

The minister said China had better roads because their side of the Himalayas was a plateau and building roads was convenient.

"The progress of roads on the Chinese side will always be better than us because the mountains on our side are not so solid. On the other hand, they have the Tibetan plateau on their side and building roads is easier."

"However, that does not mean we must not try. The progress is good and the situation will be much better in a couple of years," he said.

The former army chief said his focus was to complete the trans-Arunachal highway. "The trans-Arunachal highway will be completed as soon as possible," he said.

Besides, he said the central government was working on linking parts of the northeast region through Bangladesh.

Singh said India was to build a bridge on the Feni river in southern Tripura to get access to the Chittagong port in Bangladesh for carrying goods and heavy machinery for the land-locked northeast region.

"There is greater cooperation with Bangladesh now. The understanding is if we improve the roads up to Chittagong we can use the port," said the minister.

He said a lot of emphasis was also being put on enhancing the rail network in the region, as well as better air connectivity.