Image of highway. Representational image.
Credit: Special Arrangement
New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday approved two major highway projects in Maharashtra and Odisha with an investment of over Rs 20,500 crore.
With this, the NDA government has now approved total Ra 2.18 lakh crore worth highway projects since June 2024. A total of Rs 12.06 lakh crore worth infrastructure projects have been approved since June 2024 including highways, metro, airports and ports, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told media persons here.
The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the construction of six-lane greenfield access-controlled Nashik- Solapur-Akkalkot corridor in Maharashtra on Build Own Transfer (BOT-Toll) mode, he said.
Providing details of the project, he said the 374 km-long highway will be built at Rs 19,142 crore under the PM Gatishakti National Master Plan. The highway will provide connectivity to important regional cities such as Nashik, Ahilyanagar, Solapur connecting to Kurnool, Vaishnaw said.
The greenfield corridor from Nashik to Akkalkot is proposed to be connected to Delhi-Mumbai Expressway near Vadhawan port interchange, Agra-Mumbai corridor at Nashik at junction with NH-60 (Adegaon) and Samruddhi Mahamarg at Pangri (near Nashik).
The proposed corridor will provide through connectivity from west coast to east coast. From Chennai port end, four-lane corridors are already in progress from Chennai to Hasapur (MH Border) via Thiruvallur, Renigunta, Kadappa and Kurnool (700 km long).
The primary purpose of the proposed access-controlled six-lane greenfield project corridor is to improve travel efficiency and is expected to reduce travel time by 17 hours and reduce the travel distance by 201 km.
The Union Cabinet also approved the widening and strengthening of existing 2-Lane to 2-Lane with paved shoulder of National Highway -326 from Mohana and Koraput in Odisha with an investment of Rs 1526.21 crore.
The NH-326 upgrade will make travel faster, safer, and more reliable, resulting in overall development of southern Odisha, particularly benefiting the districts of Gajapati, Rayagada, and Koraput.
The upgradation will provide direct and improved connectivity from Mohana–Koraput into major economic and logistics corridors — linking with NH-26, NH-59, NH-16 and the Raipur–Visakhapatnam corridor and improving last-mile access to Gopalpur port, Jeypore airport and several railway stations, said the statement.