The Government has initiated the process to ensure the construction of 5,000 km of road network all along the borders and coastal areas at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore under the Bharat Mala Project. A Cabinet note has been circulated in this regard. Simultaneously, the NHAI has also expedited the process of inviting bids for preparing the detailed project reports (DPRs) for the 5,000 km of roads, which is to be built covering India’s entire west-to-east land border from Gujarat to Mizoram and linking that to a road network in coastal States, from Maharashtra to Bengal.
Sources in the Ministry of Roads and Highways said that the entire network will cover stretches across 15 States. “Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Gujarat and Punjab would get sizeable sections of this network as most of these States share international borders,” said an official.
“Since these are expected to be difficult territories, with unpredictable terrains, we are assuming that in the start for each stretch 80 per cent of road shall be two-lane with paved shoulders (two and half lanes) and 20 per cent of length (on mainland) may be four-laned,” he said.
The official said that since most of the identified stretches, which fall in border areas and attract very little traffic, the Government might not get developers willing to put in their funds. “Most likely, the NHAI will have to give out the project on the EPC (Equipment, Procurement, Construction mode) where the Government bears the entire expenditure for the project,” said the official.
“Although, the detailed project reports are still to come, we are estimating the overall investment to be around `50,000 crore, if not more,” he said.The official said that the detailed project report would be ready in 6-8 months. “We are hoping to get Cabinet approval for this project by then. So once we have both the DPRs and approvals, we can award projects without delay,” said the Government official, adding, “We plan to complete this project in a five year time frame.”