Modi to launch road, port projects in Maharashtra

Visit to bolster BJP's assembly elections campaign

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch on Saturday several road and port projects in Maharashtra, where the Assembly elections are slated for October-November.

According to separate press statements issued simultaneously by the Press Information Bureau and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the PM will pay a day-long visit. Modi was in Jammu and Kashmir earlier this week, another poll-bound state. BJP President Amit Shah had addressed a rally in Haryana on Thursday. Jharkhand, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir will also go to polls later this year.

Modi will land in Mumbai, where he will lay the foundation of a Port Connectivity Highway Project at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT). This project is to be completed by December 2017 and will cost Rs 1,927 crore. The ministry of shipping under the National Highway Development and Port Connectivity Programme will execute this project on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode through a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

The PM will also lay the foundation for a port-based multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) at JNPT. This is also to be developed through JNPT-SPV over 277 hectares in the EPC mode and is to be completed in three years. This is planned to be a self-sustainable integrated development project with an investment of about Rs 4,000 crore and has an employment generating potential of about 150,000 direct and indirect jobs.

With a focus on collaborating with upcoming sectors of India, the SEZ will develop a free trade warehousing zone for engineering goods, electronics and hardware, non-conventional energy, multi services (information technology and healthcare) and the apparel and textile sectors.

The PM will also participate in a function to allot land to JNPT- Project Affected persons (PAPs). This land is being allocated to those land owners of the Navi Mumbai Project from which JNPT was given land in the 1980s. Land owners were given assurances at the time of land acquisition that developed land would be given to them to the extent of 12.5 per cent of the land acquired. The Ministry of Shipping has now transferred 12.5 per cent of the 1,172 hectares of land earlier transferred for the JNPT project. This land will now be handed over to the JNPT- (PAPs).

Modi will later visit Solapur to dedicate to the nation a  four-lane section of the Pune-Solapur section of National Highway 9 (NH-9). He will also lay the foundation stone for widening of Solapur-Maharashtra/Karnataka border section of NH - 9. The Highway connects Maharashtra with Karnataka, Telangana & Andhra Pradesh. This is one of the major high-density traffic corridors in India connecting Northern & Western India with Southern India.  The section from Mumbai to Pune is already four or six lane and the section from Pune to Solapur is also ready.