Centre hastens 20,000-km B'mala project

An ambitious Bharatmala project, which will see the construction of 20,000-km road network largely in the Himalayan belt, is all set to take off shortly, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said, explaining that the mega project subsuming all road projects in the first phase will see huge road construction activities. National Highways Development Project (NHDP) and all existing schemes are currently on their last leg and are going to be commissioned within this period. Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) are in the process of preparation and the first phase of the Bharatmala project, which will be the mega plan of the government, is also the second-largest highways project after the NHDP saw development of about 50,000 km. NHDP, being implemented in various phases was initiated by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and includes Golden Quadrilateral connecting four metropolises besides North-South Corridor connecting Srinagar to Kanyakumari and East-West Corridor joining Porbandar to Silchar and also cover laying network of roads across border areas of the country.