With the Centre giving a special assistance of Rs 800 crore for improving infrastructure in Uttarakhand, the state government is now planning to work on a series of new infrastructure related projects to enhance connectivity and boost tourism in the hill state.
“Our roads are in bad condition and we want to improve our infrastructure. Secondly, tourism is the main gross domestic product (GDP) growth driver and we also want to focus on this sector. In the coming days, infrastructure will get a boost,” said Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna.
The chief secretary of the state, Alok Kumar Jain said: “We are chalking out our plans in such a way that we can focus on infrastructure projects. After getting the special assistance of Rs 800 crore for infrastructure related projects, money is no constraint for us. I have asked the secretaries concerned to prepare plans for big infrastructure projects,”
Among the various projects, the government would construct a new flyway/double lane road between the Jollygrant airport and Dehradun for better connectivity. The 25 km road between Jollygrant Airport and Thano-Raipur will be made double lane. Another 2.6 km long bypass road between Bridge No. 6 and Raipur and 4 km long bypass will be constructed between Khairi Mansingh and Sahastradhara Road.
For effective management of traffic in the Capital city, 6 flyovers and 5 railway over-bridges will be constructed, informed the chief secretary.
Additional secretary, forest, Sushant Patnaik, has been directed by the government to resolve issues pertaining to the transfer of 3.70 km forest land located between Jollygrant airport and Bhumiya Mandir. The construction of the road, according to the chief secretary, would shorten the distance between the airport and Dehradun by about 7 km.
Jain has also started monitoring the progress of various infrastructure projects, especially those which are being built under the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.
During a recent meeting, the Planning Commission had enhanced the special assistance from Rs 600 crore to Rs 1500 for Uttarakhand. Out of this, Rs 800 crore is meant for improving infrastructure in the state. “This also shows that we will be getting Rs 800 crore every year now for the infrastructure projects,” said Jain.
