The Centre is set to sanction over Rs 650 crore and start paving work for the last segment of the Indo-China border connectivity road that will facilitate the link to Kailash Mansarovar. This link from Uttarakhand will allow vehicles to drive up to just 75 km away from the pilgrim site. The government is also preparing to involve top construction companies and contractors from L&T to Tata group to bring in mechanised construction to expedite work on the project, ET gathers. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORTH) has already opened a dialogue with top firms for the same, sources confirmed. The key step to get the project moving has been completed. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has completed road formation of the entire 150 km link from Askot up to the Indo-China border. Road formation involves the shaping of the road surmounting geographical and terrain challenges over which road pavement can be constructed. This challenging work was completed successfully by the BRO in the tough Himalayan terrain. The MORTH is set to sanction funds for the paving of the last 80 km of road from Askot to the border, top sources confirmed to ET. "The toughest part was road formation in this case. With road formation now completed, the paving of the road will begin.

The work on the 112-km Capital Region Ring Road project at an estimated Rs 5,744 crore will start soon, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Saranagi after meeting Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi. The proposed six-lane carriageway will connect Rameswar in Khurda district with Tangi in Cuttack via Govindpur in Dhenkanal bypassing Khurda, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Ahagarh and Choudwar. This will reduce the traffic load on NH-16 passing through Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. “If things go as planned, the process of land acquisition may start within the next six to nine months,” a senior government official said. The tender for execution of work will be published after that. Of the total land acquisition cost estimated to be around Rs 1,200 crore, the state government will bear 50% (Rs 600 crore) while the Centre the remaining 50%. The other costs of the project will also be borne by the Centre. Sarangi said Gadkari has also given his approval for a flyover near Cosmopolis in Bhubaneswar at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore.

The Tamil Nadu government has proposed to widen important state highways connecting district and taluk headquarters to four-lane covering a length of 150 km and two-lane for a distance of 600 km under the Chief Minister Road Development Programme (CMRDP) this financial year. This second phase work will be taken up at an outlay of Rs 2,300 crore. During the Budget 2021-22, it was announced that important state highways connecting district and taluk headquarters will be widened to four-lane covering a length of 2,200 km while 6,700 km will be widened to two-lane in the next 10 years based on the traffic intensity under CMRDP – a newly launched pioneer programme to widen roads based on connectivity and traffic intensity. Further, four-laning of roads in Hosur corporation in Krishnagiri district will be taken up at estimated cost of Rs 300 crore to promote the growth of the production units in the district, the Minister said while winding up the debate on the demand for grants to his department. A detailed project report (DPR) with techno-economic feasibility will be prepared at a cost of Rs 4 crore to improve the Thoothukudi port connectivity linking Chengalpattu, Tiruchirappalli, Pudukottai and Manamadurai for a distance of 80 km.

In a big boost to road infrastructure in Khammam, three new greenfield highways are being planned in the district. Built at a total cost of Rs 2,200 crore, these new greenfield highways would cover a distance of 100 km. As part of this, the construction of a four-lane access-controlled greenfield highway section of NH-365BG (Khammam - Devarapalle section) from Thallampadu village to Somavaram village will be carried out at a cost of Rs 772 crore for a distance of 33 km. This apart, four-lane access-controlled greenfield highways will also be constructed from Somavaram village to Chintagudem village (29 km) at a cost of Rs 637 crore and from Chintagudem village to Thumburu village (42 km) at a cost of Rs 804 crore, all under the Khammam-Devarapalle section of NH-365BG. These greenfield highways are being constructed under the Green Highways (Plantation, Beautification and Maintenance) Policy.

In a bid to strengthen road infrastructure to handle the ever-increasing traffic, the state government will upgrade 150km of highway roads to four-lane and 600km of road network to two-lane at an estimated cost of Rs 2,300 crore under the chief ministers road development programme (CMRDP). The government said that 435 causeways will also be replaced by high-level bridges atRs 1,105 crore and three bypasses will be built in Coimbatore, Tiruchengode and Tiruvannamalai towns at Rs 500 crore. State highways minister E V Velu said in the assembly that state highways will be upgraded under CMRDP, unveiled last year, and the plan was to build four lanes for a length of 2,200 km in 10 years, and upgrade single and intermediate lane roads connecting taluk/block headquarters and important major district roads and other district roads to double lane for a length of 6,700km in 10 years. Velu said that rail over bridges would be built at 12 places in eight districts - Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruvallur, Nagapattinam, Trichy, Tirupattur, Thiruvarur and Vellore - at Rs 577 crore.

The Central government has sanctioned Rs. 2,500 crore to Madhya Pradesh for road construction works.

At 41 feet above sea level, the residents of Chennai can soon go for sightseeing at the Villivakkam lake as the city corporation will be finishing the construction of a glass-door enclosed suspension bridge. The bridge, built based on a Singaporean model, will be 250-metre-long and will have stairs and elevators too.

The Centre has approved 17 road projects worth Rs. 297 crore for the Union Territory of Ladakh under the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) during the current financial year.

The Central government has sanctioned Rs. 2,500 crore to Madhya Pradesh for road construction works.