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COVER STORY

thereafter, and the Zojila Tunnel. Hon’ble PM also inaugurated the Pradesh. During the same event, he also launched first Intelligent
16 km Varanasi Ring Road project and Varanasi – Ghazipur (72 km) Transport system (ITS) on 6 Lane Eastern Peripheral Expressway at
highway project. Dasna, Ghaziabad. This revolutionary state-of-the-art technology will
Nitin Gadkari Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways achieve traffic efficiency by minimizing traffic problems, efficient
laid the foundation stone for 25 National Highway Projects of infrastructure usage, enriching users with prior information about
total length 257 Km with an investment of traffic and reduce travel time as well as enhance safety and
`11,721 crore at Doda in Jammu & Kashmir. comfort of commuters.
Speaking on ocassion “These projects will An MoU was signed between the NHAI and Jawaharlal Nehru Port
not only provide all weather connectivity Trust at Nagpur to set up a multi-modal logistics park at Sindhi in
within the valley and agricultural, industrial Wardha district. While signing the MoU in Nagpur to set up a multi-
& socio-economic progress of the region modal logistics park at Dry port in Sindhi city of Wardha district,
but will also facilitate swift movement of Gadkari said, “The city of Nagpur is a place of zero mile and is in
defence forces.” He also laid foundation the heart of the country. Therefore, the city has the full potential of
stone and inaugurated 232 km of national highways at a cost of becoming a logistics capital and the journey towards setting up a
`4,160 crore in Jaunpur and Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. He also multi-modal logistics park (MMLP) at Wardha’s Dry port has started.”
inaugurated and laid foundation stone of National Highway projects He expects that the park would provide employment opportunities
of 240 Km worth `9119 crore in Meerut and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar to 50,000 people in the next five years. The multi-modal logistic park
would be connected to the railway and Samruddhi highway as well
as the Nagpur-Hyderabad National Highway. This park would have
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her
Budget 2022 speech announced a slew of a facility of cold storage containers which would enable perishable
investments on infrastructure. On February 1, fruits and vegetables to last longer and farm produce and other
the finance minister said, “PM Gati Shakti is goods could be exported at affordable logistic cost.
driven by seven engines i.e. roads, railways, During another event, he emphasized, “National highways are
airports, ports, mass transport, waterways growing at a very fast pace and in the coming three years, the
and logistics infra. All seven engines will pull
forward the economy in unison. Supported entire country will get highways of American standard. At one time,
by energy transmission, IT communication, we were constructing two km of road per day, and today we are
bulk water and sewerage and social infra.” constructing 38 km per day.”
To boost the infrastructure sector, Sitharaman The Highways ministry has undertaken many projects in Gujarat,
has allocated `20,000 crore for national including 1,080 km (road construction) projects worth `25,370
highway expansion. “In 2023, 25,000 km additional national crore under the Bharatmala Pariyojana. Among the projects is an
highways will be constructed,” she said. She also announced expressway between Delhi and Mumbai that will pass through seven
an allocation of `44,000 crore on Ken Betwa river project.
districts of Gujarat.

20 CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES|FEBRUARY 2022