Ambitious Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata Expressway will reduce travel time to 9 hours
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate varanasi -ranchi -kolkata expressway
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the 6-lane Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata Expressway along with 23 completed projects totaling Rs 10,972 crore in his parliamentary constituency this Friday. This expressway, poised to slash travel time between Varanasi and Kolkata from 15 hours to 9 hours.
Prime Minister Modi will kick off the first phase of the project, known as Package I, with a total cost of Rs 1,317 crore, inclusive of land acquisition expenses. This phase encompasses the construction of a 27 km road with accompanying green belts.
By linking multiple major cities, the Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata Expressway is anticipated to drive down logistics expenses and stimulate industrial growth. Designated NH319B by the National Highways Authority of India, the 610-km Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway will traverse four districts in Bihar and Jharkhand before entering West Bengal via Purulia district.
Originating from Varanasi, the expressway will pass through Chandeli in Bihar, crossing the Uttar Pradesh (UP) border, and continuing beyond Imamganj in Gaya after approximately 160 km. A proposed five-kilometer tunnel in the Kaimur Hills will facilitate crossing the Sone River at Tilauthu in Sasaram, leading to Aurangabad via the Grand Trunk Road.
The Jharkhand Road Construction Department (RCD) reportedly plans to integrate the expressway with the Ranchi Ring Road. Once NH319B is operational, the travel time between Kolkata and Varanasi is expected to be halved.
Currently, Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata Expressway covering the 690-km distance between Varanasi and Kolkata takes about 12-14 hours. Moreover, Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata Expressway is projected to stimulate trade activities in Bihar, particularly with the forthcoming logistics park in Goa set to be linked to it.In the financial year 2022-23, the Indian Government focused on framework advancement, especially in Eastern India. Another freeway from Varanasi to Kolkata through Ranchi was wanted to improve network, spike the travel industry, and cultivate financial development in the area. Expected to decrease travel time from 12-14 hours to 6-7 hours and abbreviate the separation from 690 km to 610 km, this interstate will navigate Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. Its development, at first arranged as a 8-path project, will cost Rs 23,500 crore and is scheduled for culmination by 2027, a slight deferral from the underlying objective of the primary quarter of 2026. Once functional, it is normal to catalyze modern development, drive financial advancement, and essentially support work potential open doors, tending to a lack of ongoing in the district.
The freeway task will be a completely six-path greenfield try, using the Designing, Obtainment, and Development (EPC) model to guarantee security, risk covers, and execution ensures for the foundation. Soil testing in Jharkhand was directed in June 2022 to lay the basis. It will intently line up with Public Interstate 19 (NH-19), otherwise called the Asian Thruway 1 or the Terrific Trunk Street.
The land procurement process for started in January 2022 for a 80-kilometer area extending from Tilouthu to Imamganj in Bihar. Tenders were delivered by the Public Roadways Authority of India (NHAI) in November 2022 to welcome offers for the development. By Walk 2023, the undertaking had been portioned into 13 bundles, with the division for the West Bengal segment still in the works.
For Bundle 1, NHAI gave worldwide tenders, designating Rs.988 crore for building a 27-kilometer stretch from Varanasi Ring Street in Uttar Pradesh to Khainti town in Bihar. Bundle 2 got Rs.945 crore for a comparable 27-kilometer stretch from Khainti town to Palka town in Bihar, to be constructed utilizing the Half and half Annuity Model (HAM).
In the West Bengal segment, the state government has guided six areas to do land procurement for the undertaking. At present, the venture is in the Definite Task Report (DPR) readiness stage and going through land obtaining. The following is a table posting the venture’s bundles, project workers, and their situations with.
The Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata Expressway guarantees broad advantages for Eastern India and the country at large:
Exchange: By catalyzing modern development along its way, especially in Eastern India, the Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata Expressway will support exchange, enhance trades, and decrease dependence on imports. Its essential arrangement close to significant ports like Kolkata and Haldia will work with the transportation of steel and coal from key centers like the Bokaro Steel Plant and coal mineshafts in Jharkhand, in this way filling monetary extension across the four states.
The travel industry: Extraordinarily intended to navigate regions ready for the travel industry improvement, the freeway will light the travel industry by giving openness to less popular yet socially rich locales. This designated steering through underexplored locales, quite in Jharkhand and western West Bengal, means to open the travel industry possible secret inside these areas.
Network: Offering a direct and facilitated course from Varanasi to Kolkata, the Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata Expressway cuts travel time and distance, encouraging consistent network. Past associating Varanasi and Kolkata, it incorporates Kolkata straightforwardly with the public capital and stretches out availability to Jammu and Kashmir through an interconnected organization of interstates. Future ventures like the Ganga Turnpike will additionally smooth out network, upgrading openness among Kolkata and Haridwar and connecting Rajasthan by means of the Chambal Freeway.
Ecological Protection: To save the regular scene, broad vegetation drives will be carried out along the turnpike’s whole stretch. Strikingly, a 5 km-long passage in Bihar’s Kaimur region will moderate natural effect by bypassing sloping territory, in this manner protecting against deforestation.
Business: With expanded modern action along the freeway, horticultural and modern drives will spike monetary development in Eastern India. The foundation of different financial focuses is ready to create various business open doors, helping thousands across the four states.
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