Modi to dedicate waterway terminal to nation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation two national highways of 34 km and constructed at a cost of Rs.1,571.95 crore in Veranasi on 12 November, 2018.

The projects are:

The 16.55 km Varanasi Ring Road Phase-I has been completed at a cost of Rs.759.36 crore, while the work of four-laning and construction of 17.25 km Babatput-Varanasi road on NH-56 has cost Rs.812.59 crore.

The Babatpur Airport highway will link Varanasi to the airport and go on to Jaunpur, Sultanpur and Lucknow. With a flyover at Harhua and an ROB at Tarna, the road will reduce the travel time from Varanasi to the airport.

The Ring Road, with two ROBs and a flyover, will provide a way for traffic on NH 56 (Lucknow-Varanasi), NH 233 (Azamgarh-Varanasi), NH 29 (Gorakhpur-Varanasi) and Ayodhya – Varanasi highways to by-pass Varanasi city, thereby reducing traffic congestion in the city.

This will reduce travel time, fuel usage and pollution in the area.

These projects will also provide increased employment opportunities, development of small and medium industries and give a boost to economic development in the area.

There are currently 2,833 km NH projects, costing Rs.63,885 crore underway to link Varanasi to other places in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Of these fifteen road projects of 1,143 km length are under various stages of construction. These include Varanasi-Jaunpur, Varanasi–Sultanpur, Sultanpur-Lucknow, Varanasi Ghaghra Bridge, Varanasi-Azamgarh among others. A sum of Rs 30,227 crore is likely to be spent on these.

Besides these, there are seven targeted projects of 235 km costing Rs.8,265 crore. Also, 20 projects are in Detailed Project Report (DPR) stage for constructing 1,455 km roads at a cost of Rs.25,323 crore.

In a separate event the same day, Prime Minister will also dedicate to the nation an inland waterways terminal on river Ganga in Varanasi. This is the first of the four multi modal terminals being constructed on NW-I (River Ganga) as part of the World Bank aided Jal Marg Vikas project of the Inland Waterways Authority of India.

The other three terminals are under construction at Sahibganj, Haldia and Gazipur. The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with capacity of 1,500-2,000 DWT on river Ganga.

Modi will also receive the country’s first container consignment (post-independence) to be sent on an on inland waterways vessel.

This consignment containing cargo of the food and beverage company Pepsico set sail from Kolkata in the last week of October. fiinews.com