Kerala can expect jumps in tourism and infrastructure through the proposed project: File photoNew Delhi: The Bharatmala project, announced by Jaitley in Tuesday's press briefing has given hope to Kerala as Kochi will figure on the proposed Mumbai-Kochi highway which will pass through Pune and Bengaluru.
The major highway, which will incidenatally increse the distance between the two port cities, is expected to bring down the travel time by around five hours.
The ambitious road construction and expansion program announced by the union ministry on Tuesday has approved over 83,000 km roads over the next five years with an investment of about Rs 7 lakh crore to boost up the macro-economic scene in the country.
Kerala may also draw benefits from the proposed 2000 km coastal highways development project that is aimed at promoting shipping, ports and tourism.
The aim is to improve infrastructure, entail faster transportation and generate employment.
The National Highways Authority of India and ministry of surface transport has been given additional powers for the efficient and speedy implementation of the project.
A mammoth project in the making
Briefing reporters after a cabinet meeting, finance secretary Ashok Lavasa said the road building projects will generate 14.2 crore man-days of jobs.
The massive road building program includes 34,800 km of BharatMala project to be constructed with an investment of Rs 5,35,000 crore.
"The historic road building program for progress and prosperity involves building 83,677 km of roads at an investment of Rs 6.92 lakh crore," Lavasa said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who also addressed the media, later tweeted that the huge public investment in road construction will generate employment.
There is a need to increase public investment and Rs 7 lakh crore for road expansion will generate employment opportunities, Jaitley tweeted.
The government has consistently battled accusations from the Congress and other opposition parties that the growth under the Modi government has been "jobless".
Lavasa, who made a detailed presentation, said BharatMala includes economic corridors, border roads, coastal roads and greenfield expressways.
He said there will be 9,000 km of economic corridors, inter-corridor and feeder routes (6,000 km), national corridors efficiency improvement (5,000 km), border roads and international connectivity (2,000 km), coastal roads and port connectivity (2,000 km), Greenfield expressways (800 km) and national highway development works (10,000 km).
The BharatMala project will be funded from Rs 2.09 lakh crore mobilized from the market, private investment of Rs 1.06 lakh crore and Rs 2.19 lakh crore from central road fund, and will adopt a PPP model for implementation.
The remaining 48,877 km roads under other schemes with an outlay of Rs 1.57 lakh crore will also be undertaken in parallel by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways with Rs 0.97 lakh crore from the central road fund and Rs 0.59 lakh crore from budgetary support.
Lavasa said demonetization of 82 operating highways with an investment potential of Rs 34,000 crore has been taken up.
The bid for the first bundle of nine highway stretches of 680.64 km has been made with a demonetization value of Rs 6,258 crore, he added.
Read more at: Latest in Business | Nilekani does the balancing act: says no wrongdoing in Panaya
