The Central Government has approved the development of the four and six laning of the Raipur-Bilaspur section of National Highway–30 and 130 (old NH-200) in Chhattisgarh. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi provided the approval recently, officials stated.

The project road also caters to the major traffic leading towards industrial area in the Raipur-Bilaspur section. It will also increase the employment potential for the local labourers for project activities, they stated. This work will be under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-IV. The approval is in Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) (Toll) mode on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (BOT/DBFOT) basis, they stated.

The cost is estimated to be Rs1963.88 crore including the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road will be approximately 127 kms. The main objective of the project is to expedite the improvement of infrastructure in Chhattisgarh and also in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying through Raipur, Simga and Bilaspur.

Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari during his visit to Chhattisgarh  on January 29 had laid foundation stone of five major highway projects worth Rs1700 crores approved for the State. The projects included National Highway 12A Kawardha-Bemetara-Simga section, National Highway 216 Raigarh-Sarangarh-Saraipalli section, National Highway 43 Dhamtari-Kanker section, National Highway 43 Bedma-Dahikonga section and National Highway 43 Dahikonga-Jagdalpur section.

It was Gadkari’s second visit to Chhattisgarh within a month as on January 13, the Union Minister had made announcement that the Central government would carry out construction of roads and bridges in the left Wing Extremism (lWE) areas on mission mode with precast and other advance technologies with assistance from Military Engineering Services (MES) and DRDO in Bastar.

He had  stated that local contractors would also be engaged for construction of roads and other development works in violence-hit pockets. The Union Minister in his last visit  had reviewed the progress of road infrastructure works in insurgency-hit eight states and heaped praise on security forces and construction agencies for executing the key road projects in red zones despite all odds.

Gadkari had told officials attending a review meeting that around 75 per cent of the Naxal problem could be solved if a network of road and bridges is developed in insurgency-hit areas. He had emphasized on using latest technology in road construction work and insisted that roads laying projects should be completed in a time-bound manner. 

Early this month, the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry had accepted the proposals given by the Chhattisgarh government and sanctioned Rs305.56 crore for projects related to construction of 10 bridges and roads, officials said. Thereafter, State PWD Minister Rajesh Munat had sent the proposals to the Union Transport and Highways Ministry which provided approval to the projects on directions of Gadkari.

The projects sanctioned include proposed flyover between Canal Road and Kanshiram Nagar in Raipur worth Rs46.33 crore, railway under bridge and over bridge on Gogaon-Gudhiyari route in Raipur for Rs35.40 crore,  railway over bridge at lokhandi railway level crossing in Bilaspur district for Rs79.10 crore, a bridge over Hasdev river on Champa-Korba-Katghora road for Rs29.77 crore, construction of bridge on Rajnandgaon-Kawardha road for Rs13.70 crore, construction of bridge on Durg-Dhamdha-Bemetara road for Rs14.40 crore, widening and strengthening of Gaurela-Karangara road for Rs34.36 crore, construction of bridge on Rajnandgaon-Arjunda-Gunderdehi road for Rs24.17 crore, construction of bridge on road from Pithore-Bagbahra-Churra to Gariaband road for Rs18.15 crore.

A four-lane subway near DRM office in Raipur on Raipur-Bilaspur road for Rs 10.18 crore has also been sanctioned.