Kolkata: To improve the connectivity within the West Bengal, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on Tuesday announced that it aims to award contracts for 270 km road projects, worth Rs 25000, to be constructed in the state. The agency said that contracts for the Rs 25,000 project would be awarded in this fiscal itself. To reduce congestion on the Vidyasagar Setu, NHAI has decided to construct a 6.5-km six-lane elevated road on the existing four-lane Kona Expressway at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore.
Tenders for the said projects will be floated by the government by December this year, Mint reported quoting a government official.
As per the report, NHAI would also float contracts for a Rs 12,000 crore worth stretch of 245-km Kharagpur-Burdwan-Morgram.
“So far in West Bengal, construction of a total of 1,201 km road network has been completed by NHAI. At present, the construction work for 356 km of projects is ongoing. The total cost of ongoing projects is ₹13,570 crore,” NHAI chairperson Alka Upadhyaya said on the sidelines of a two-day review meeting for four states and a programme on ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ in the city.
“We are also planning to award 270-km of projects worth Rs 25,000 crore in 2022-23, which will not only improve connectivity within the state but also boost the economy,” she added.
Meanwhile, NHAI is also identifying black spots (accident-prone places) with the state police. As many as 459 black spots have been identified. Of these, 301 have been made safe by implementing long-term corrective measures, while work is in progress on 146 black spots. Rectification work on the remaining such places will also begin shortly, said an official statement.
