Sunday, May 05, 2002
Sunday, May 05, 2002 |
| Southern States | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Southern States
-
Karnataka
By Our Staff Reporter
He was speaking after laying the foundation for six-lane stretches from 556 km to 539 km and from 535 km to 527 km of National Highway 7 forming part of the North-South and East-West corridors, near Hebbal. Mr. Khanduri said the corridor would be commissioned before December 2003 to avoid time and cost overruns. He said many scoffed at the Golden Quadrilateral and corridor projects when the Prime Minister had announced it. The project was being implemented at a cost of more than Rs. 54,000 crores. He said the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Japanese International Bank gave Rs. 20,000 crores for the project, and an equal amount was collected as cess on petrol and diesel. A sum of Rs. 10,000 crores came from the National Highways Authority of India, public bonds and the LIC, and Rs. 4,000 crores from the private sector. He said the national highways formed only 58,000 km of the 33-lakh km of roads in the country. Under the project, 13,000 km would be four- and six-lane roads of international standard. Of the 7,300 km of roads to be developed in the second phase of the project, 4,000 km would be in the North-South corridor and 3,300 km in the East-West corridor. Since the Government had given all clearances and approvals, his Ministry would not face any difficulty in going ahead with the project. He said under the golden quadrilateral, 1,000 km of four-lane roads had been completed. The project would save Rs. 8,000 crores annually because of less expense on petrol and diesel, faster movement of vehicles, and improved trade and commerce. The construction industry, he said, would get a boost as 1,700 tonnes of cement and 100 tonnes of steel were required for laying a km of road. The project would create 20 crore man-days of labour. Mr. Khanduri said the Centre had given Rs. 3,000 crores for the development of State highways and Rs. 2,500 crores for village roads. Villages with a population of 1,000 or more would be linked by roads. He said in Karnataka, 1,691 km of new roads had been made national highways in the past two years. The total length of national highways in the State was 3,570 km. The Centre had also given Rs.140 crores to maintain roads in the State. Another Rs. 157 crores would be given from the Central Road Fund. Under the Golden Quadrilateral project, 748 km of roads in the State would be developed. Karnataka stood fifth among the States in the project. Participating in the function, the Union Minister for Urban Development, Ananth Kumar, said the Centre was spending Rs. 3,600 crores in the State on road development. Another contribution made by the Centre to the State was the Devanahalli International Airport project. The Karnataka Minister for Public Works, Dharam Singh, presided over the function. The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Jagadish Shettar, was present. Later, Mr. Khanduri said the Centre was studying the possibility of using rubber in road building.
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|