The Centre is planning to develop ring roads in 28 major cities, including lucknow, Bengaluru, Ranchi, Patna, Srinagar and Udaipur, at an estimated cost of Rs 36,290 crore.
The projects are part of the ambitious Bharatmala initiative announced by the Union Cabinet last year, under which the Gvernment envisages development of 84,000 km of national highways at an investment of Rs 6.92 lakh crore by 2022.
“We plan to decongest all major cities under Bharatmala by building ring roads at an estimated cost of Rs 36,290 crore. Formulation of detailed project reports (DPRs) for projects worth Rs 21,100 crore are in the process,” Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
The DPRs are under “award” stage for another Rs 4,700 crore projects, he said. Other cities where ring roads have been planned are Pune, Sambalpur, Madurai, Indore, Dhule, Raipur, Shivpuri, Bhubaneswar, Gurugram, Surat, Vijayawada, Chitradurga, Amravati (AP), Sagar, Solapur, Jaipur, Belgaum, Nagpur, Agra, Kota, and Dhanbad.
“The stretches have been identified after scientific study of traffic patterns of all the identified ring roads and bypasses all over the country,” said a road Ministry official.
As per the study report, 185 “choke” points have been identified to decongest corridors that include bypasses of Agra, Varanasi, Sasaram on Kolkata-Delhi corridor, Aurangabad bypass area on Mumbai-Kolkata corridor, Amritsar bypass on Amritsar-Jamnagar corridor, Gwalior bypass on Agra-Mumbai corridor, Nanded bypass on Hyderabad-Aurangabad corridor, Firozabad bypass on Kolkata-Delhi corridor, Bellary bypass on Bellary-Solapur corridor.
Gadkari further said considering massive road building under Bharatmala, the highways Ministry has sought enhanced budgetary allocation this time, besides funds for innovation in the sector. Sources said earlier the Ministry in a communication to the Finance Ministry has said any reduction in outlay will impact Bharatmala.
As against the Ministry’s proposal of Rs 84,260 crore for BE (budgetary estimate) 2018-19, the indicative outlay for RE (revised estimate) 2018-19 is only 66,760 crore, said an official, adding that any such reduction in the RE 2017-18 and BE 2018-19 will be a severe setback in the progress of the ongoing projects and achievement of targets.
It will also adversely impact the targets set under Bharatmala Pariyojna.