Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched a string of road and port projects in Haryana and Maharashtra where assembly elections are scheduled to be held later this year.
In Haryana, the Prime Minister launched the four laning of over 160-km long national highway from Kaithal to the border of Haryana and Rajasthan. The road passes through Kalayat, Narwana, Barwala, Hisar and Siwani towns of the state. The project entails the construction of 23 underpasses and over 20 km of service roads along villages situated on the route.
In Maharashtra, the PM laid the foundation for the four laning of the Solapur-Maharashtra/Karnataka border section on the Pune-Solapur stretch of NH-9. This highway connects Maharashtra with Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and has been taken up under the National Highways Development Project.
Modi also laid the foundation of a port connectivity highway project at JNPT near Mumbai. This project is scheduled to be built at a cost of Rs. 1,927 crore and completed by December 2017. The Ministry of Shipping will execute the project on EPC basis through a special purpose vehicle, under the National Highway Development and Port Connectivity Programme.
Besides, the PM also laid the foundation for a port-based multi-product special economic zone at JNPT. This EPC project is estimated to cost Rs. 4,000 crore.
In Nagpur, also in Maharashtra, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of Nagpur Metro, Pardi grade separator and a flyover on NH-6.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping, Krishanpal Gurjar, has said that the Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur highway project of NH-8 in Rajasthan was only an upgradation of the existing four-lane highway to six lanes, on the existing alignment, and was likely to be completed by June 30, 2015.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha, the minister said that NHAI was pursing with the state PWD for early relocation of certain religious structures along the alignment. He stated that the competent authority (land acquisition) had acquired the structures as per NH Act 1956. NHAI had deposited Rs. 73 lakh with the PWD in June 2014 for relocation of the religious structures on the insistence of the Rajasthan government and was waiting for the state government to undertake the required activities, he added.
