Cabinet okays ₹7,052 cr infra projects in Andhra, MP and Maharashtra

Centre clears highway and rail projects including Badvel-Nellore corridor and multitracking lines in MP and Maharashtra aimed at boosting logistics and connectivity

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved multiple infrastructure projects across national highways and railways, with a total cost of around Rs 7,052 crore.

 

These include the construction of a four-lane Badvel–Nellore corridor with a length of 108.134 km at a cost of Rs 3,653.10 crore in Andhra Pradesh, and railway multitracking projects in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra costing Rs 3,399 crore.

 

“The approved Badvel–Nellore corridor will provide connectivity to important nodes in the three industrial corridors of Andhra Pradesh, i.e., Kopparthy Node on the Visakhapatnam–Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC), Orvakal Node on the Hyderabad–Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (HBIC), and Krishnapatnam Node on the Chennai–Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC). This will have a positive impact on the Logistic Performance Index (LPI) of the country,” a Cabinet statement said.

   

The proposed corridor will reduce the travel distance to Krishnapatnam Port by 33.9 km—from 142 km to 108.13 km—compared to the existing Badvel–Nellore road. This will reduce travel time by an hour and lead to significant savings in fuel consumption, thereby lowering the carbon footprint and vehicle operating cost (VOC).

 

The project will be built under the public–private partnership (PPP) mode. 

 

Additionally, the Cabinet approved two railway projects: the Ratlam–Nagda third and fourth lines, and the Wardha–Balharshah fourth line, which are scheduled for completion by 2029–30.

 

The two projects, covering four districts across Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, will add approximately 176 km to the existing Indian Railways network. “The proposed multitracking projects will enhance connectivity to around 784 villages with a combined population of about 1.97 million,” the Cabinet said.

 

It added that these are essential routes for transporting commodities such as coal, cement, clinker, gypsum, fly ash, containers, agricultural produce, and petroleum products. The capacity augmentation is expected to enable an additional freight traffic volume of 18.40 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).