JOIN USFive new expressways to come up in State
As per a master plan prepared by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, these greenfield expressways will connect mainly ports, airports and major commercial hubs. The total investment will be over Rs 25,000 crore.
“The roads will be constructed under the Ministry’s Indian National Expressway Network (INEN) project under public-private-partnership,” a senior official in the ministry told Deccan Herald.
The roads will be built in three phases from 2010 to 2022. The first phase will cover Mangalore-Karwar-Panaji (400 km). Honnavar-Shimoga-Bangalore (325 km), Chitradurga-Solapur (400 km) and Bangalore-Mangalore (360 km) will be covered in the second phase and the construction of Bangalore-Coimbatore (402 km) stretch will be completed in the third phase.
“These expressways are greenfield projects for which fresh land will be acquired and new alignment will be drawn. These roads will have different alignments and it will not overlap the existing national highways on the same route,” the official said.
The ministry has finalised the stretches after a detailed study of traffic movements of mainly commercial vehicles and other aspects like connection to ports, airports, and future industrial growth in these areas. The ministry has also taken the view from the State government in this regard, the official said.
The expressways will be access-controlled and will have four to six lanes. To provide seamless movement of vehicles, the government will ensure that toll is not levied on these roads and vehicles would be allowed to ply above the speed limits on national highways.
The estimated cost of construction will be Rs 14 crore per km for four-lane and Rs 20 crore per km for six-lane roads.
Under the INEN project, the ministry is planning to build 18,637 km of expressway in 16 states in the country with an investment of Rs 3,00,000 crore.