Cabinet nod for widening highway sections to Varanasi, Madurai

The union cabinet on Tuesday approved the four-laning of the Sultanpur-Varanasi section of National Highway 56 in Uttar Pradesh, which will greatly upgrade Varanasi's connectivity to Lucknow and other parts of the state.

The total cost for this 138-km-long stretch will be around Rs.3,800 crore, a cabinet communique said.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also approved the four-laning of the Varanasi to Ghazipur, Gorakhpur and onward to Nepal section of the National Highway 29 in Uttar Pradesh, at a total capital cost of approximately Rs.4,400 crore.

In an another decision, it also approved the four-laning and two-laning with paved shoulders of a 115-km-long section of the Madurai-Ramanathapuram National Highway 49 in Tamil Nadu at a cost of about Rs.1,400 crore.

The project, under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-III, is likely to be completed in two and a half years.

The CCEA said that a total length of 8,000 kms of National Highways were awarded during 2014-15.