In the last two years, India has assigned more than US$4.7 billion in contracts for the development of its border roads, according to government figures, including the highway which will run from Manipur through Myanmar into Thailand.
The construction has taken on new urgency as China pushes ahead with its own vast "One Belt, One Road" infrastructure scheme, expected to involve more than $500 billion spent in 62 countries.
"With China's growing interest in the region, as its wealth grows, its influence is growing beyond its borders," said K Yhome, New Delhi-based senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.
So while China is pushing for a north-south economic corridor under the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, India is aiming to build links with its eastern neighbours, he said.
Under the Modi government's "Act East" policy, India is investing in road and rail links on its north-east borders, where it rubs shoulders with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China and Myanmar.
Roads, bridges and railways have been a weak link in India's infrastructure in the north eastern states.
In part, it was left underdeveloped as strategy to make the region inaccessible to Chinese troops if Beijing invaded as it did for four weeks in 1962.