Industry Odisha Bureau, Jun 29: In a bid to decongest about 500 cities across the country, the Government of India (GoI)’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is reportedly going to launch a five-year estimated plan worth Rs 2 trillion meant for constructing a 10,000-km network of bypasses and ring roads.
The ambitious plan is also reportedly aimed at “improving travel time and freight movement on the national highways (NHs)”.
Media reports added that, the MoRTH’s ambitious plan is a “significant expansion of the ministry’s earlier plan for building the network of bypasses and ring roads around 50 larger cities, since the latest plan would cover tier-II, tier-III cities as well as towns with 1,00,000 populations along the major highways.”
Media reports quoting MoRTH sources also added that, “the latest plan has been made because the average vehicle speeds remain around 50 kmph due to congestion and other bottlenecks around the cities along the major highways, while the implementation of this new plan intends to preserve design speeds of 100-120 kmph because of the diversions away from the cities.”
Also, it has reportedly been claimed that, “the newly-planned network of bypasses and ring roads would be high-speed corridors with four-lane and above highways.”
Media reports also said that, “the respective state governments under their town-planning laws will be asked to notify a prohibited development control zone called ‘green zone’ of 15 meters on both sides of the new highway bypasses and ring roads.”
