This would be the second largest project in the sector after the flagship road building programme of NHDP which saw development of 50,000 km of National Highways network as per global standards including the Golden Quadrilateral project.
The Golden Quadrilateral project aims at connecting all four metropolises and North-South Corridor connecting Srinagar to Kayakumari and East-West Corridor joining Porbandar to Silchar.
"A Road Transport and Highways Ministry-appointed study for economic corridors by global consultancy firm AT Kearney has identified 40 such economic corridors totaling about 35,000 km," a Road Transport and Highways Ministry official told PTI.
"A rough estimate suggests about Rs three lakh crore on the project and the scheme is being finalised," he said.
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The economic corridors include Mumbai-Cochin-Kanyakumari, Bangalore-Mangalore, Hyderabad-Panji and Sambalpur-Ranchi to name a few, the official added.
The official said the project would be taken into phases and would be awarded under various modes that include build, operate, transfer (BOT) toll mode and the newer hybrid annuity mode (HAM) under which the while the government provides 40 per cent of the project cost the developer has to arrange for remaining 60 per cent.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has been stressing on the need for reducing logistics cost in the country from the present 18 per cent.
Noting that high logistics cost has been one of the major bottlenecks in trade and business the Minister has been stressing the need to develop innovative methods for transport.
The proposed Economic Corridor is planned to overtake Ministry's National Grid Project where NHAI has prepared a plan for grid connectivity through 27 horizontal and vertical highways.
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