Chhattisgarh is all set to get new national highways (NHs) with roads totalling length of 1367 kms, inform officials.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has assured of initiating necessary steps in this direction, they informed.
The assurance came during a meeting held between Chhattisgarh Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Rajesh Munat and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi recently.
Principal Secretary PWD Amitabh Jain was also present during the meeting.
Munat had informed the Union Minister that in February this year the latter had announced of constructing new highway of 1285 km in Chhattisgarh.
As per the present requirement of the State, a proposal for sanctioning of additional 1367 kms highways has been sent to the Ministry, Munat said.
Munat also urged Gadkari to speed up the work of Raipur-Bilaspur highway.
Over the Raipur-Dhmatari Highway development issue, the Union Minister directed the concerned officers to float tenders within a week.
Munat also requested Gadkari for establishing the Regional Office of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Raipur.
The Central government had approved a total of four highway projects in Chhattisgarh with total road length measuring 60.36 kms with an outlay of Rs 161.68 crores during the last one year, officials stated.
Most of these projects are proposed to be implemented under Engineering, Procurement Construction (EPC) mode. The scheduled completion time of these projects generally varies from 24 to 36 months.
The maximum number of highway projects were approved in Uttar Pradesh at 13.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Road Development Corporation (CGRDC) has identified 61 different projects for construction of roads.
Out of 61 roads, 56 Roads covering length of 1859.25 kms have been identified for development under Hybrid Annuity Model and 5 roads under (B0T) Toll mode, officials stated.
Notably, CGRDC will be using both web and mobile based 'Project Management System'.
The project is part of the Integrated Project Management System (IPMS) to monitor road development projects in the State, officials stated.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Government has adopted Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for development of roads in the State.
The State government is planning to construct roads measuring 13,000 km with an investment of Rs 42,000 crore over the next three years. The budget allocation during 2016-17 for this is a massive Rs 6,101 crore, representing an increase of 56% over the preceding year.
Notably, 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.
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 last 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.