Gadkari lays foundation stone for Ghazipur Intermodal Terminal

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday laid the foundation stone for an 'Intermodal Terminal' at Ghazipur here which will link National Waterway-I with National Highway-31.

This terminal is being constructed as part of the World Bank-aided Jal Marg Vikas project and will provide intermodal transportation facility for cargo, an official statement said.

"The terminal will thus be very important for efficient movement of large and small cargo by providing the options for both land and water transportation or the option for intermodal switching," it said.

The terminal will have facilities like berths, storage areas and sheds, terminal building, communications systems and electrical substation. It will have a handling capacity of 12 lakh tonnes per annum.

During his visit to Uttar Pradesh, Gadkari also inaugurated several national highways projects and laid the foundation stone for many others which would collectively span a total length of 246 km built at a cost of Rs 6,517 crore.

In Ghazipur, Gadkari laid the foundation stone for widening and strengthening of 65.38 km long Ghazipur-Mau section of NH 29 at a cost of Rs 3,580 crore and Hridaypur-Tikri Buzurg section of NH-97.

In Maharajganj, he dedicated to the people the "newly-widened and strengthened" 26.9 km long Urka-Ramnagar section and 33 km long Siswa Babu to Kaptanganj section of NH 730.

The work for the former section was done at a cost of Rs 146.39 crores and for the latter at a cost of Rs 222.49 crore, the statement said.

The Minister also laid the foundation stone for widening and strengthening 21.12km long Ramnagar-Siswa Babu section of NH-730 at a cost of Rs 193 crore.

In Deoria, Gadkari laid the foundation stone for widening of 15 km long Deoria Byepass section of NH-727 A at a cost of Rs 600 crore and 27.75 km long Kaptanganj-Padrauna section of NH-730 at a cost of Rs 275 crore.

Gadkari also reviewed the progress of highway projects in Uttar Pradesh with the state Chief Minister in Lucknow.

--IANS

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