Govt approves road projects worth Rs 6,152 cr in five states

The government today approved road projects worth Rs 6,152 crore in five states for upgrading nearly 562 km of four-lane highways into six lanes.

The projects include six-laning of 435 km in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat at an estimated Rs 4,279.94 crore, which are part of the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) scheme and four/six laning of 122.87 km stretch on Maharashtra-Goa and Goa-Karnataka border at an estimated Rs 1,872 crore.

The projects were approved by the Cabinet Committee on infrastructure.

The stretches for six-laning are the Pune-Satara section of the national highway in Maharashtra, Samakhiali-Gandhidham section in Gujarat and Udaipur-Ahemdabad section in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

"The total project will be under design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) pattern," an official statement said.

The concession period for these three projects is between 24 and 30 years while that for the other Rs 1,872-crore project is 23 years, an official statement said.

"The main objective of these projects is to expedite improvement of infrastructure in these states," it said.

The Cabinet had given approval for six-laning of 6,500 km of the existing four-lane Highways under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) in October 2006.