Union ministry for Road Transport and Highways and the Maharashtra government today signed an agreement to construct bridges on railway tracks, which is expected to cost Rs 10,000 crore, Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil said.
"There are total 210 level crossings where railway tracks and roads cross each other. Such level crossings lead to either delay in movement of trains or vehicular traffic on roads. To avoid it, the Railways, Union ministry for Highways and the state government have decided to construct the road over bridge (ROBs) and road under bridge (RUBs)," Patil said.
He said the total cost of the work is expected to be around Rs 10,000 crore, which is expected to be completed within three years.
The agreement was signed at Vidhan Bhavan, where Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were present along with Patil and state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.
"Of the total expenditure, railways will contribute Rs 5,000 crore as it is in the rule books of railways. As the state does not have so much funds, Maharashtra government will get Rs 5,000 crore from Central Road Funds. The state government's role will be in speedy acquisition of land and utility shifting on priority basis. We can manage it," the Revenue minister said.
He said there are 26 national highways that cross its route with railways in the state. "(At such places) there will be ROBs and entire funding will come from National Highways Department," Patil said.
"We are also keen on appointing a dedicated officer for these projects to obtain various types of permissions from railways," the BJP leader said.
When asked about expediting the project without escalating the cost, Patil said, "We are thinking of selecting a group of adjoining districts and treat it as a cluster. We will issue all the major clearances in one go so that work can be finished in time.
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