The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, approved two major railway multitracking projects in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, along with the construction of a 4-lane highway in Andhra Pradesh.
Cabinet Approves Railway Multitracking Projects To Boost Connectivity
The Cabinet cleared two railway multitracking projects worth approximately Rs 3,399 crore. These projects will add about 176 km to the existing Indian Railways network across four districts in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The projects include:
- Ratlam-Nagda 3rd and 4th lines
- Wardha-Balharshah 4th line
The government expects these projects to enhance line capacity, enabling faster and seamless movement of passengers and freight.
The improved connectivity will benefit around 784 villages with a combined population of nearly 19.74 lakh.
These routes serve as critical corridors for transporting essential commodities such as coal, cement, clinker, gypsum, fly ash, containers, agricultural products, and petroleum.
The capacity increase is projected to raise freight traffic by 18.40 million tonnes annually.
Additionally, these projects will reduce oil imports by 20 crore litres and cut carbon emissions by 99 crore kilograms, equivalent to planting 4 crore trees.
About 74 lakh human-days of employment will be created during the construction phase.
Cabinet Approves Projects For Highway In Andhra Pradesh
Separately, the Cabinet approved the construction of a 108.134 km 4-lane Badvel-Nellore highway corridor in Andhra Pradesh for Rs 3,653.10 crore.
The project will follow the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) model.
This new highway corridor will connect important nodes on the Vishakhapatnam-Chennai, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, and Chennai-Bengaluru industrial corridors, providing strategic access to the Krishnapatnam Port.
The highway will reduce travel distance to Krishnapatnam Port by nearly 34 km, cutting travel time by about one hour.
This will lower fuel consumption, reduce vehicle operating costs, and decrease the carbon footprint.
The project will create around 20 lakh man-days of direct employment and 23 lakh man-days of indirect employment.
Authorities also anticipate further economic benefits for the surrounding region.
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