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To augment road infrastructure in far-flung tough terrain, the border and coastal areas, the government proposes to spend Rs 2.67 lakh crore under its ambitious Bharatmala project.
The programme is targeted for completion by 2022.
“Bharatmala is a proposed umbrella scheme at an estimated cost of Rs 2,67,200 crore” the Economic Survey for 2015-16 tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, said today.
The survey said the government would spend Rs 80,250 crore on development of 7,000 km of state roads along coastal areas or border areas, including connectivity of non-major ports.
For backward areas, religious and tourist places connectivity it will spend Rs 85,250 crore on augmenting another 7,000 km, it said.
On “Setubhratam Pariyojana, which is for the construction of about 1,500 major bridges and 200 ROBs (road over bridges/ RUBs (road under bridges)”, it will spend Rs 30,000 crore.
Under the programme, the government intends to spend Rs 60,000 crore on district headquarters connectivity for development of about 9,000 km of newly declared national highways, it said.
With about 52.32 lakh km of road network comprising National Highways, State Highways and other roads, India has the second largest road network in the world.
National Highways in the country cover a length of 1,00,475 km and carry about 40 per cent of the road traffic.
Apart from Bharatmala, the government said it has approved a scheme for the development of about 1,177 km of NHs and 4,276 km of state roads in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected areas as a Special Project with an estimated cost of about Rs 7,300 crore.
Under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the North-Eastern region (SARDP-NE) under phase A the government will take up improvement of about 4,099 km of road length (2,933 km of NH and 1,166 km of state roads) by March 2017.
The survey said Phase B, which will be taken up after Phase A is completed, will cover 3,723 km (1,285 km NHs and 2,438 km state roads) of road.
The Arunachal Pradesh Package for Road and Highways involving development of about 2,319 km road length (2,205 km of NH and 114 km of state/general staff/strategic roads) has also been approved by the government, the Survey said.
On the status of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) it said a total length of 26,177 km road has been completed as on December 31.
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