Faster roads

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has given the nod to 5 Greenfield road projects

TTHE MINISTRY OF ROAD Transport and Highways is stepping up its efforts to improve the road infrastructure in the country with five greenfield road projects. This is close on the heels of the ministry’s announcement last month of commencement of work between Gurgaon and Mumbai that will reduce the distance by almost 200km.

The five new greenfield road network projects are on the routes between Bathinda-Kandla, Bathinda-Ajmer, RaipurVisakhapatnam, Chennai-Salem and Ambala-Katputli. All important industrial and manufacturing hubs. The ministry has also identified two new stretches between Durg-Aurang in Chhattisgarh and Mangalore-Chitradurga in Karnataka.

The new network of roads between Bathinda and Kandla passing through Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Barmer, and Sanchore in Rajasthan will cut down the current distance of 1,100km to almost 900km. This 4-lane greenfield highway will be less expensive and will open up new areas for development around this region. Similarly, the new highway between Bathinda and Ajmer which passes through Sirsa in Haryana and Sikar in Rajasthan will reduce the distance by at least 120km. Also, the greenfield highway between Chennai and Salem in Tamil Nadu will bring down the distance by 70 odd kilometres. This is the second move by the government to speed up transport after increasing speed limits around the country.