Govt clears Rs 4,226-cr road projects

The government on Thursday approved road improvement projects, worth Rs 4,226 crore (Rs 42.26 billion), for over 440 km of various national highways stretches.

The projects are to be given out on design, build operate, finance and transfer basis and are part of third phase of the National Highways Development Project, the government's programme to develop road infrastructure.

Major projects, cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, include the Rs 1,078.84-crore (Rs 10.78-billion) project for four-laning of 103 km of Farakka-Raiganj section on NH-34 in West Bengal.

Another project approved by the committee is four-laning of 102 km of Barahampur-Farakka section of the NH-34 in West Bengal. The estimated project cost is Rs 998.79 crore (Rs 9.98 billion) and the concession period will be 25 years.

"The traffic on this national highway is expected to increase substantially due to the implementation of South Asia Free Trade Agreement among South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries.

"The commercial traffic generated from Haldia Port, Kolkata and industrial areas in South Bengal heading towards North Bengal, North-East states and neighbouring countries of Bhutan and Nepal has only NH-34 to use," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said after the meeting of the committee. In 2005, the government had approved four/six laning of 4,000 km of national highways under the NHDP-III(A).

The government approved additional stretches in May and October 2006 and April 2007 for four laning. Total length of about 12,109 km has to be completed in this phase at an estimated cost of Rs 80,626 crore (Rs 806.26 billion).