The NDA government is working on plans to develop 2,300 km of roads connecting religious centres, around 1,500 km of roads connecting tourist centres such as Gulmarg and Hampi and an additional 2,000-odd km of roads in backward and remote areas. This is besides an ambitious 5,021 km programme aimed at developing border roads stretching from Gujarat to Mizoram. “We are awarding roads projects at the pace of over 8,000 kms every year. At this rate we would achieve our targets by end of next financial year. We are lining up new projects to have our infra plan ready for future”, said a senior official in the Ministry of Roads Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The development of border roads is being done under a new programme named ‘Bharat Mala’, which the ministry will send for Cabinet approval over the next 15 days, the official indicated. He said the broad idea is that while the Bharat Mala project will connect North India, the Sagar Mala project will link up the Southern part of the country, utilising coastal route and inland waterways. [related-post] The project connecting places of religious interests, tourists centres and backward areas would be in addition to this. “The detailed project reports (DPR) for the Bharat Mala programme will be divided into 70-80 segments and awarded shortly. The DPR would take 6-9 months, analysis would be done if land acquisition needs to be done. The first batch of projects under Bharat mala may be awarded by the end of this fiscal but the bulk of work would begin only next year,” he said. The estimated cost for the 5,021 km of highway development under the Bharat Mala project would be around Rs 14,000 crore, but final figures would be arrived at only after completion of DPRs. Last fiscal, the government had awarded 7,900 km of highway projects, more than double the 3,170 km awarded in 2013-14. However, only 700 km of these stretches are being executed under the public-private partnership mode on a Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) basis. These projects are to be completed over the next three years. The road transport ministry has plans to award at least 8,500 km every year to meet the target of construction of 30 km highway per day in the next two years. At present, average daily construction is close to 12 km. During UPA-II the record of award was much higher totalling about 20,000 km between 2010 and 2012. However, most of the projects did not take off due to unavailability of land, delay in forest and statutory clearances and economic slowdown. When the NDA government came to power last year, work of stretches totalling 9,000 km was held up. Till now 39 projects covering 4,700 km have been cancelled or letters of appointment for starting work have been withdrawn. Another 16 projects totaling around 1,360 km need fund infusion to start work. ‘Bharat Mala’ Cost estimated at Rs14,000 cr * The development of border roads is being done under a new programme named ‘Bharat Mala’, which the ministry will send for Cabinet approval over the next 15 days. * The broad idea is that while the Bharat Mala project will connect North India, the Sagar Mala project will link up the Southern part of the country, utilising coastal route and inland waterways. * The estimated cost for the 5,021 km of highway development under the Bharat Mala project would be around Rs 14,000 crore, but final figures would be arrived at only after completion of DPRs.
