Govt clears national highway projects

New Delhi: Government cleared over a dozen national highway (NH) projects entailing a total investment of Rs 16,326.34 crore.

The clearance for the highway projects come on the heels stimulus package announced earlier this month that allowed India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL) to raise Rs 10,000 crore through tax-free bonds by March 2009 aimed at supporting a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) programme of Rs 100,000 crore in the highways sector.

Briefing the media after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, Home Minister P Chidambaram said major projects cleared included four-laning of Khagaria-Bakhtiarpur (NH-31) and Patna-Buxar (NH 30 and NH 84) sections with estimated costs of Rs 1,766.30 crore and Rs 1,757.40 crore, respectively.

The government has also approved the four/six laning of Hyderabad-Vijaywada section of NH 9 with an estimated project cost of Rs 1,603.31 crore, besides sanctioning the development of 18.3 km four lane elevated road from Chennai Port to Maduravoyal (NH 4) at an estimated investment of Rs 1,530 crore, he added.

The Rs 1,643.2 crore four laning project of Kuttipuram-Edapally (NH 17) and the Rs 1,570.18 crore project of four/six laning of Ghaziabad-Aligarh section of NH 91 and four laning of Muzaffarnagar-Dehradun section of NH 58 and NH 72 at an estimated cost of Rs 1,516.42 crore have also been given the go ahead.