The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has plans of broadening NH–26 to augment connectivity between Raipur and Vishakhapatnam, officials informed.
The Indian Railways have also commenced the process of laying an 18-km long broad gauge railway track from Mandir Hasaud to Kendri village in the new Capital region. The rail line would be connected to the existing Raipur-Visakhapatnam line. A total of 41 villages would be coming under the project out of which 13 villages would be coming in the first layer and 28 in second layer, officials stated. The Naya Raipur Development Authority (NRDA) had already commenced rural development projects in the villages coming under the rail line project, they stated.
All poor families from 41 villages in the project area are being allocated BSUP housing in 10 villages. This was informed in a review meeting for NRDA projects held by Housing and Environment Minister Rajesh Munat in the Mantralaya here.
The Minister also informed in the meeting that there is a target of settling a minimum of five lakh people in the new administrative capital by 2030.
Early this year, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had put forward a proposal that a Cargo Hub should be developed in Naya Raipur with a Container Depot in Chhattisgarh. He had stated that his Ministry will bear the entire development cost if the Chhattisgarh Government agrees to provide land for the Hub. To this, Chief Minister Raman Singh who met the Union Railway Minister in New Delhi assured the latter that his Government will provide land for the project.
During the meeting with Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, the Chief Minister had also discussed expansion of rail lines in northern regions of the State and connecting Bastar with the mainstream of the nation.
He had also stated that Bilaspur zone of Chhattisgarh is the biggest contributor of revenue in the Railways and demanded that Raigarh, Jagdalpur, Dongargarh and Uslapur be developed as terminals other than Bilaspur, Durg, Ambikapur and Korba.
The Chhattisgarh Government has set the target of completing construction of 338 roads at a cost of Rs 19,326 crore by March 2018. The Government has already completed development of 6,279 roads measuring a total of 26,504 kms under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, officials informed.
As many as 8,533 settlements near the new main roads had been benefitted by the projects out of 10,560 identified as per the guidelines of the scheme, officials informed. State Panchayat and Rural Development officials informed that under the scheme, a total of 9,461 settlements have been approved to be benefitted from the scheme in which a total of 6,279 roads had been completed.
Chief Minister Raman Singh has said that roads projects worth Rs 35,000 crore are currently in the process of implementation in the entire State. The Chief Minister had given the information in his address delivered after inaugurating the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DICCI) Chhattisgarh unit here last month.