Aizawl, Nov 1 : Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, said on Wednesday that the NDA government has invested Rs 4 lakh crore during the past nine years to increase the capacity of the northeastern region and to help it to become the economic growth engine of India. Addressing an election rally in Mizoram's Lunglei, Sonowal said that under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the northeast region has made tremendous strides towards progress and development. "Since 2014, after Modi ji became the leader of our country, the central government has invested Rs 4 lakh crore to develop capacity in the region to help it become the economic growth engine of India," he said. Sonowaladded: 'We, the people of northeast, are no longer ignored by the central government, unlike the Congress governments of the past. Modi ji visited the northeast more than 60 times since becoming the Prime Minister, which is far more than any other Prime Ministers of the past.' "Mizoram, the beautiful state of India, has an opportunity to explore growth and development by voting BJP to power and experience the development-led governance as is witnessed in other states," he said. The former Assam Chief Minister also said that Modi's special focus on building infrastructure has made a tremendous growth proposition for the region to act as a springboard of development. He added that Mizoram stands to gain tremendously with the newly-opened Sittwe Port in Myanmar, which is part of the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport project. /IANS