Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will lay foundation stone for upgradation and widening of as many as seven National Highway projects at Simga under Balodabazar-Bhatapara district on Tuesday.
As per the information received, the work for development of roads measuring around 342.026 kms will jointly be taken up by Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Chhattisgarh’s Public Work Department (PWD). For development of these seven NH projects, a sum of Rs 3197 crore has been sanctioned, officials stated.
The programme will be presided over by Chief Minister Raman Singh while Union Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Dev Sai, PWD Minister Rajesh Munat, Raipur MP Ramesh Bais, Rajnandgaon MP Abhishek Singh, Durg MP Tamradwaj Sahu, Bilaspur MP lakhan lal Sahu, Korba MP Dr Bansilal Mahto, Sarguja MP Kamalbhan Singh Maravi and Chairman of Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation Shivratan Sharma will be registering their presence as special invitees.
As per information received, the roads to be developed are- Raipur-Simga, Simga-Sirgaon, Sirgaon-Bilaspur, Chilfi-Kawardha , Katghora-Shivnagar, Shivnagar-Ambikapur and Surajpur-Ambikapur sections.
Notably, on the other hand, the Chhattisgarh Road Development Corporation (CGRDC) will be utilising an ‘Integrated Project Management System (IPMS) for monitoring the status of various road projects in the State, officials stated.
Notably, The Chhattisgarh government has adopted Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for development of roads and expects capital investment of nearly Rs 10,000 crore in the road sector.
A total of 12 roads have been marked under Chhattisgarh State Road Development Project, out of which work on developing six roads has already been started, officials stated.
This year, 3724 kms of roads have been built and upgraded and construction of 41 bridges has been completed. Construction of 123 bridges is in progress.
It may be recalled that the Centre has also approved as many as three new National Highway projects in Chhattisgarh during the past three financial years.
The cumulative cost of the highway projects stood at Rs 150.37 crores, officials stated.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has approved Rs 3,300 crore for broadening and upgradation of the National Highways in Chhattisgarh.
Notably in July this year, the Central Government had also announced that it would award contracts for three key road projects in Chhattisgarh measuring 149 kms to be developed at an estimated cost of Rs 3,522 crores this year, officials stated.
It is targetted to award 273 road projects in the country covering a length of approximately 12,900 km amounting to about Rs 1,26,700 crore during 2015-16 under various schemes of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, officials had stated.
The Central Government had also sanctioned an amount of Rs 305.56 crore for 10 important works under Central Road Fund Scheme during 2015-16 in Chhattisgarh, officials stated.
These 10 works include construction of one road route, two Railway over-bridges and under-bridges, one fly-over and bridge.
PWD Minister Rajesh Munat had stated that these works have been approved by Central government this year for ensuring smooth traffic movement in busy areas of the State.