PM to lay foundation stone of 3 highway projects in Haryana

Chandigarh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Haryana tomorrow and would lay the foundation stone of 341 kms long three Highway projects at Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Rai of Sonipat district.

These projects include Western Peripheral Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway and eight-laning of Highway section from Mukarba Chowk (Delhi) to Panipat costing Rs 13,802 crore, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was quoted as saying by an official release here today.

Eight Union Ministers are also scheduled to take part in the function.

These include Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh, Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan, MoS for Culture Mahesh Sharma and Union Minister V K Singh.

The about 136 km long Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway, also known as Western Peripheral Expressway, project will provide high-speed link to northern Haryana with its southern districts like Gurgaon, Faridabad and Palwal, he said.

Spanning five districts of Sonipat, Jhajjar, Gurgaon, Mewat and Palwal the project would be completed at a total cost of Rs 4,000 crore, the Chief Minister said.

It would help de-congestion of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi and reduce pollution tremendously as traffic from the northern parts of the country towards other regions would not need to pass through this area.

The work of this Expressway was awarded in 2006 and was scheduled to be completed by 2009. But the previous agency did not complete the work and hence the contract was terminated in March, this year, Khattar said.

“With the present state government’s initiatives revival of Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway Project is taking shape,” the Chief Minister said.

Khattar asserted that his government, which recently completed one year in office, prioritises industrial development in the state and has announced the new ‘Enterprise Promotion Policy, 2015′.

“I want to position Haryana as a pre-eminent investment destination and facilitate balanced regional and sustainable development supported by a dynamic governance system, wide-scale adoption of innovation and technology and skill development for nurturing entrepreneurship and generating employment opportunities,” he said.

The aim is to facilitate the states’ GDP growth rate in excess of eight per cent, employment generation for four lakh persons, investments in the state to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore, Khattar said.

The state government also seeks to increase secondary sector’s contribution in the state GDP from 27 per cent to 32 per cent in tandem with the Union Government’s National Manufacturing Policy and ‘Make in India initiative and promote balanced regional development through geographical dispersal of industry, the CM said.

PTI