Modi govt approves mega Rs 7-lakh crore ($110 billion) project to develop 83,000 km highways in 5 years
ET Bureau| Updated: Oct 25, 2017, 12.51 AM IST
NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday approved the biggest highway construction plan so far in the country,
to develop approximately 83,677 km of roads at an investment of Rs 6.92 lakh crore by 2022. The highway construction programme is aimed at pushing economic activity and generating at least 14.2 crore man-days across the country over the next five years.
The programme includes the
Bharatmala scheme, under which 34,800 km of highways would be constructed at the cost of Rs 5.35 lakh crore, finance secretary Ashok Lavasa said. Under Bharatmala, the road transport and highways ministry will construct 9,000 km of economic corridors across the country.
The project also entails constructing 6,000 km long inter corridor and feeder routes, 2,000 km of border and international connectivity roads, 5,000 km to be upgraded under the national corridor efficiency programme, 800 km of greenfield expressways, 10,000 km under the national highway development programme and 2,000 km of coastal and port connectivity roads.
"The economic corridors would ensure that time taken for transporting goods from manufacturing sectors is reduced," Lavasa said. He said the road transport and highways ministry has already identified new alignment for corridors, which would open new areas for development. "We'll be improving road connectivity in northeast and other border states to facilitate international trade," Lavasa said.
The government will fund Bharatmala project through market borrowings, central road funds, monetising government-owned road assets, and budgetary allocation. "For the highway construction programme, Rs 2.09 lakh will come from market borrowing, Rs 1.06 lakh crore is expected to come through private investment and Rs 2.19 lakh crore will come from the central road fund and through toll operate transfer model," Lavasa said.
In addition to 34,800 km under Bharatmala, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will parallel implement the balance works of 48,877 km roads under other current schemes with an outlay of Rs 1.57 lakh crore, Lavasa said. This will be financed by providing Rs 97,000 crore from CRF and Rs 59,000 crore as gross budgetary support.
The government has assigned NHAI, National Highway and Industrial Development Corporation (NHIDCL) and state public work departments for the highway projects. "These organisations would be given sufficient delegation of powers so that there's speedy implementation," Lavasa said.
In additional,
central and state governments would spend another Rs 88,185 crore in the next three years towards constructing rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. The government has also sanctioned almost Rs 11,000 crore towards the development of roads in states with left wing extremism.
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