The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Thursday approved inclusion of the ambitious Atal Progress-Way project of Madhya Pradesh in the Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP) phase 1, a state government official said.
The new expressway will be 404km in length in Madhya Pradesh and pass through Bhind, Morena and Sheopur districts of the Chambal region and connect Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) in the east and Kota (Rajasthan) in the west, MP Public Works Department Principal Secretary Neeraj Mandloi said. The Rs 7,000-crore expressway is expected to boost development of Gwalior and Chambal divisions of the state. The Bharatmala Pariyojana is a new umbrella programme of the Centre for the highways sector. It focuses on optimising efficiency of freight and passenger movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps through effective interventions like development of economic corridors, border and international connectivity roads, and greenfield expressways. Meanwhile, an official release said Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari for the inclusion of Atal Progress-Way in phase-1 of BMP.
Chouhan said, Atal Progress-Way would prove to be a lifeline for development of Gwalior and Chambal divisions. An industrial corridor will be constructed around this 404km length expressway which will become an important link in the economic development of the region. The new route from Jhansi to Kota will benefit three districts of Madhya Pradesh. The distance between these two points will also save about 50 km and the travel time will be reduced from 11 hours to 6 hours, the release said. Industrial areas will be developed along the expressway, it said. The Madhya Pradesh government has made preparations to invite investment in industrial, commercial, and various activities for the expressway to be built on the banks of the Chambal river, the release said. The land to be used in the expressway has been made available by the state government at its own expense, it said. MP PWD Minister Goptal Bhargava said, Tenders for this project which is worth Rs 7,000 crore would be floated very soon. The project is being constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and its detailed project report was prepared by the state government in four months and presented to the Centre, the release said.
Source : Business Standard
