The Central government is looking into the possibility of building smart cities along the Delhi-Mumbai Express that is being built on a new alignment. The government is looking if National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) can plan a township along the highway Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, a Union Cabinet note has been floated for this.
The Rs one lakh crore flagship Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project is scheduled to be completed within three years and and expected to cut down the travel time between Delhi and Mumbai to just 12 hours.
The government has saved about Rs 16,000 crore on land acquisition front alone on the project on a new alignment and will pass through backward and far-flung tribal areas of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
A large number of road side amenities and other projects can be taken along the highways ushering in development of the areas, he added. Road construction activities were planned at a higher pace now at least thrice the rate of construction earlier and projects worth Rs 15 lakh crore were likely to be taken in two years.
Most of the 406 stalled road projects worth Rs 3.85 lakh crore have been rolled out barring Rs 40,000 crore worth of projects that had to be terminated. There are several opportunities in logistics parks, smart cities, smart villages, cold storage, road construction where developers can and should focus and think of something innovative idea to start an economic activity.
About 2,000 commercial places like bus stations can easily be converted into bus ports and stressed the need for pre-cast bridges and constructions.
