Express highway linking Chandigarh, Phagwara at Rs 800 crore: Badal

Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal today announced a six-lane express highway to link Chandigarh and Phagwara to be constructed with an estimated cost of Rs 700-800 crore on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

"A map for the proposed Chandigarh-Phagwara express highway is being finalised. It will be an uninterrupted highway of about 150-200 km," Badal said adding that the highway would be extended up to Amrtisar later.

The chief minister said a plan had been chalked out to connect most of the link roads with the national highway and its execution would be initiated soon.

Claiming that in the years to come investment of several thousand crores would be coming to the state in the form of mega projects, Badal said the state government would build a trade fair center at Mohali on an area of about 100 acre on the pattern of Pragati Maidan in the national capital.

"To attract the big industrial houses of the country, appropriate infrastructure would be provided in the state and it has been decided to establish a trade fair center in Mohali on an area of about 100 acre," the chief minister told reporters here.

He said the operationalisation of the proposed international airport at Mohali would bring "a kind of industrial revolution in the state".

To promote education in the state, Badal said that it had been decided that at least three schools in every district would be equipped with full infrastructure and that Rs 125 crore had already been released by the state for the purpose.

On the health sector, Badal said the medical colleges at Faridkot and Amritsar would be upgraded with an estimated cost of Rs 200-300 crore and work for the same would begin within two months.

Badal said to fulfil the promise of making the state power-surplus, work on installation of two power generation plants of the capacity of 2,000 Mw each at Bathinda and Rajpura with an investment of about Rs 20,000 crore would begin.