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Waterways to connect Telangana rivers soon: Nitin Gadkari

Gadkari said that by June end no pending road works will remain on hold

Hyderabad: Waterways, ports and water planes (currently under testing) might define the new transport system in the near future. Union minister for transport, highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari announced that the ministry is exploring these options seriously as part of a plan for developing multi-modal transportation hubs.

Giving the example of various countries like China, Japan and Britain, where 40 to 50 per cent of the transportation is done via waterways, he said the ministry has planned to connect 101 rivers across the country through inland waterways.

“Telangana has seven rivers, Manjira, Bhima, Penganga, Tungabhadra, Wainganga, Krishna and Godavari. Water ports will be developed on these rivers. Currently DPR has been started for 65 rivers in the country. Waterway transport will cost one fifth of the cost of road transport for goods and passenger services,” Mr Gadkari said.

Speaking about road development plans, he said last year, projects worth Rs 8,000 crore were awarded. Of the projects stuck, the ministry had cleared 80 projects while 46 were shelved.

Also projects in which 50 per cent of the work has already been completed were fast tracked. As a result, the per day average construction of national highways has gone up from 2 km to 14 km in a year. The minister said that by June end no pending road works will remain on hold. Also road works worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore will begin this year.

Among the national highway projects that will be taken up in Telangana in 2015-2016, are Kodad-Khammam-Kurvi road, making Nizamabad-Jagdalpur road four-lane, construction of four-lane Amberpet flyover, making Sangareddy-Nanded and Jagtiyal-Karimnagar highways four-lane, and making Haggari-Jadcherla, Nizampet-Narayanankal-Bidar and Nakarkal-Thamncherla sections two-lane.

meanwhile, Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said there is no need to panic about the Land Acquisition Bill proposed by the Central government.

“The Congress is behind false propaganda on the LA Bill, stating that it would favour only corporates and instead of public interest works, the lands will not be utilised for other things,” he said.

Mr Gadkari was on a whirlwind tour of Nizamabad on Monday. He reached TSSP battalion at Dichpally by helicopter and inaugurated the BJP district unit office at Pragathinagar. Addressing party workers meeting at Lakshmi Kalyana mandapam, he said Congress misrule had pushed the agriculture sector into crisis.

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