Bharatmala Pariyojana

IN NEWS:

• The Expert Appraisal Committee of the Environment Ministry has recommended the grant of Environmental Clearance for the development of an economic corridor — the Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) — between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka under the Bharatmala project.

ABOUT BHARATMALA PARIYOJANA:

• Bharatmala Project is biggest ever road and highways development program taken by India.
• It is an umbrella program that focuses on optimizing efficiency of freight and passenger movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps.
• This would be done through effective interventions like development of Economic Corridors, Inter Corridors and Feeder Routes, National Corridor Efficiency Improvement, Border and International connectivity roads, Coastal and Port connectivity roads and Green-field expressways.
• The project is under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
• Bharatmala Project is going to build approximately 25000 kilometers of roads (and also bridges) with an estimated cost of Rs. 2, 67,200. The target of project completion is in 2022.

Components of Bharatmala Project:

• National Highways Development Project (NHDP)
• National Corridors (NC) - including 4 projects in Golden Quadrilateral and 2 in North–South and East–West Corridors.
• Economic corridors
• Inter-corridor & feeder roads
• Border & International connectivity roads
• Coastal & port connectivity roads
• Expressways

Projects under Bharatmala:

• Development of State roads along coastal area, border area, special focus on connectivity of non-major ports.
• Backward Areas, Religious and Tourist Places Connectivity Programme.
• Setubharatam Pariyojana aimed at elimination of the railways crossings in National Highways by constructing 1500 major bridges and 200 Railway over Bridges (RoBs) or Railway under Bridges (RuBs).
• District Headquarters Connectivity Scheme - 9000 kms of road will be constructed and declared as National Highway to provide better connectivity between district headquarters.
• Special emphasis will be given on providing connectivity to far-flung border and rural areas including the tribal and backward areas.
• Look-East Connectivity through projects that promote transit through Bangladesh to improve Northeast India.
• It also seeks to integrate Bangladesh–Bhutan–Nepal-Myanmar–Thailand BIMSTEC corridors.

PRELIMS QUESTION:

Q. Consider the following statements regarding “Bharatmala Project”:

1. It is implemented under Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
2. Border connectivity projects and Economic corridors are excluded from the ambit of the project.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to Prelims question