New Delhi, August 3 (Mayank Nigam) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved on Friday eight national highway (NH) projects worth Rs 50,655 crore covering a total length of 936 km. Briefing the media on Cabinet decisions, Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the proposed highway projects would be access-controlled and have been prepared ‘keeping in mind the vision of 2047.’ “The development of eight projects would create employment of about 4.5 crore mandays. The projects have been very carefully planned to ensure minimum land acquisition is required, and for this, wherever possible, existing brownfield alignments will be upgraded.
Wherever required, land acquisition will happen,” the minister said. The Minister noted that one of the eight projects involves a major Ring Road project aimed at the overall development of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. The road project is around 68 km long and estimated to cost Rs 4,000 crore. “The 68-km 4-lane access-controlled Ayodhya Ring Road will be developed in Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) at a total capital cost of Rs 3,935 crore. The Ring Road will reduce congestion on National Highways passing through the city, viz., NH 27 (East West Corridor), NH 227 A, NH 227B. NH 330, NH 330A, and NH 135A, thereby enabling fast movement of pilgrims visiting the Rama Mandir,” an official statement said. Among the other projects, the CCEA has approved the 88 km Agra-Gwalior National High-Speed Corridor, which will be developed in Build-Qperate-Transfer (BOT) mode as a fully access-controlled 6-lane corridor at a total capital cost of Rs 4,613 crore.
The 231-km 4-lane high-speed corridor between Kharagpur and Moregram will be developed in Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) at a total capital cost of Rs 10,247 crore. The 214-km Tharad-Deesa-Mehsana-Ahmedabad National High-Speed Corridor will be developed in Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) mode at a total capital cost of Rs 10,534 crore. “The 137 km 4-lane access-controlled Pathalgaon-Gumla section of the Raipur-Ranchi Corridor will be developed in Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) at a total capital cost of Rs. 4,473 crore to complete the whole corridor,” the official release said. The other projects approved by the CCEA are the 6-lane Kanpur Ring Road, the 4-lane Northern Guwahati Bypass, the Widening and Improvement of the Existing Guwahati Bypass, and the 8-lane Elevated Nashik Phata-Khed Corridor near Pune. While the 6-lane Kanpur Ring Road project would be taken up in Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) mode, the 4-lane Northern Guwahati Bypass and Widening/Improvement of the Existing Guwahati Bypass and the 8-lane Elevated Nashik Phata-Khed Corridor would be executed in BOT mode.