97% of highway work to be done by April 2007

As much as 97.3 per cent of road-laying under the Golden Quadrilateral project and 12.9 per cent of the North-South and East-West corridors project will be completed by April 2007.

According to the Outcome Budget of the shipping and road transport ministry, 5,694 km of road-laying and four-laning out of a total of 5,846 kilometers will be completed in the next fiscal.

The ports department under the ministry said it was likely to complete deepening and widening of the approach channel to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust by November 2008, a delay of two months. The project cost is Rs 800 crore and will help enable the port to receive 6,000 TEUs container vessels.

The ministry said the highway project would entail laying 380 km of new roads under the Golden Quadrilateral within the period. An outlay of Rs 1,277 crore has been budgeted for carrying out these works.

During the same period, a total of 129 km of new roads will be laid under the North-South and East-West corridors at an expense of Rs 78 crore.

At the end of the coming fiscal, a total of 944 kilometers of the North-South and East-West corridors, out of a total of 7,300-odd kilometers, are expected to be completed under the project.

On the NHDP phase IIIA, 3,597 kms out of 4,015 kilometers will be completed at a cost of Rs 2,360 crore during the same period.

The department plans to complete 612 assignments pertaining to national highways that have been entrusted to state PWDs. The NHAI also plans to widen single lanes to two lanes in 901 assignments, while 527 assignments of strengthening weak two lanes will also be undertaken.

According to the Outcome Budget, the deepening of the channel at Paradip Port Trust is expected to be delayed by five months and will be completed in June 2007. A special purpose vehicle will be floated by the Chennai Port Trust to build the Ennore-Manali Expressway by June next year.

The Expressway is expected to improve the port's connectivity to the national highway network.

The ministry is undecided about setting up of a special economic zone under the Cochin Port Trust. The firmed up cost for the project is Rs 1,445.40 crore.

The ministry has also taken up a modernisation project for the Chennai port, which at a cost of Rs 200 crore is expected to be completed by March 2009.