The
Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River
development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari, along with Home Minister
Shri Rajnath Singh, will lay the foundation stone for four National Highways
projects worth Rs 1121 crore and several Shipping projects
worth Rs 200 crore in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in events at Port Blair,
Diglipur and Baratang today and tomorrow.
The highways projects
for which foundation stone will be laid include construction of 26 km of NH between Beodnabad-
Ferrargunj at a cost of Rs 170 crore and 56 km of NH between Austin Creek and Kalra Junction at a cost of Rs 410
crore. In addition,
foundation stone will be laid for construction of Middle Strait Creek
Bridge and Humphrey Strait Creek Bridge at estimated cost of Rs 262.97 crore
and Rs 277.17
crore respectively.
On the Shipping side
an Alternate Sea
Route to Baratang Island
will be launched. The project has been completed at a cost of Rs 45.16 crore
and aims to improve
connectivity of the island from Port Blair, reduce traffic on the route which
passes through the Jarawa Tribal Reserve, thus promoting tourism without disturbing
the tribal areas. The Ministers will also lay the foundation stone for
Extension of Wharf in Hope Town, Port Blair by 200 meters at an expenditure
of Rs 17.49 crore. The
Wharf is used by Indian Oil Corporation for discharging LPG and other Petroleum
products. The extension of jetty would allow berthing of bigger vessels of
upto160 meter length and higher capacity. This will help in increasing
availability of LPG cylinders in the area while reducing logistic costs. In
addition to this, foundation stone will also be laid for construction
of Additional Approach Jetty, extension of Berthing Jetty & Dredging in
front of Jetty, Neil Island at a cost of Rs. 38.19 Crore and extension of existing New Dry
Dock – II, in Port Blair at
a cost of Rs 96.24 Crore.
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