PM lays foundation stone of three National Highway projects in Sonipat
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of three national highway projects at Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Kundli-Sonipat in Haryana today. The projects include the Eastern Peripheral Highway, Western Peripheral Highway and 8 laning of the National Highway between Mukarba in Delhi and Sonipat in Haryana. Speaking on the occasion the Prime Minister underscored the importance of infrastructure, especially roads in economic development. He gave the example of South Korea where construction of a highway through the country had given a huge impetus to development The Prime Minister further said that the proposed and ongoing highway projects including Bharatmala and Setubharatam would bring about an economic revolution in the country. Speaking on the occasion Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways said that the Prime Minister has accorded topmost priority to the development of highways. This was especially crucial because growing congestion on roads with limited width was a big reason for the large number of accidents ..He said that the three highway projects will reduce traffic jam and pollution in Delhi by 50 percent and will also benefit the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Shri Gadkari further said that these highways were being built with all modern amenities and proper placement of underpasses and bridges. The Minister also announced that the work on Delhi-Meerut Highway will start this month.
The three highway projects, having a combined length of 341 Km and costing a total of Rupees 10,166 crore, will run through the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. . Of these the Eastern Peripheral Expressway will be 135 km long and cost Rs 5763 crore. The 136 Km long Western Peripheral Expressway will cost Rupees 2274 Crore and the 8 laning of 70 km long highway section from Mukarba Chowk in Delhi to Panipat will cost Rupees 2129 crore.
Governor of Haryana Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki, Haryana Chief Minister Shri Manohar Lal, Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri Rao Birendra Singh, MoS of RT&H Shri Radhakrishnan P, MoS Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Krishen Pal and MoS Planning and Defence Shri Rao Inderjeet Singh were also present on the occasion.
