Gujarat cabinet okays coastal highway, other infrastructure projects worth over Rs 4,400 crore

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Wednesday gave his approval to various infrastructure projects worth Rs 4,437 crore, including construction of a coastal highway, with the aim of boosting tourism activity and strengthening connectivity, a minister said.

Another key project that was approved by Patel during the cabinet meeting held on Wednesday is construction of a new corridor or highway between the Statue of Unity near Kevadia in Narmada district and Shabri Dham, a famous pilgrimage-cum-tourist spot in Dang district, said government spokesperson and education minister Jitu Vaghani after the meeting. ''The state government has decided to build a new corridor with a cumulative length of 218 km, to connect the Statue of Unity with Shabri Dham by either broadening the existing roads or by building new roads wherever required. The estimated cost of the project would be Rs 1,670 crore,'' he said.

The new corridor will connect other tourist destinations such as Saputara, Ukai, Devmogra and Zarvani.

At present, people wanting to go towards Bhavnagar or nearby districts like Amreli and Gir Somnath from south Gujarat have the only option of taking the Borsad-Tarapur-Vataman route to reach Bhavnagar via Dholera.

Local MLAs and MPs have been demanding an alternative and shorter route since a long time to reduce the travel time, Vaghani said.

Vaghani announced that the CM has accepted the demand and gave his approval to build a 135 km long coastal highway which will connect Bharuch with the coastal town of Khambhat and go till Kamatalav and Ambli Patiya near Dholera on Bhavnagar-side.

''Thus, instead of taking the Tarapur-Vataman route, traffic going towards Bhavnagar from south Gujarat or vice-a-versa can use this coastal highway. This will reduce 70 to 80 kilometers of travel,'' he added.

Another major project that received approval during the cabinet meeting is a new bridge over river Narmada near Moti Koral-Nareshwar in Bharuch district and development of a new corridor connecting Karjan, Nareshwar, Netrang and Mandvi at a cost of Rs 300 crore.

''This will help tourists wanting to go directly towards Saputara and other destinations in Dang. This corridor will also provide a shorter route to the traffic going towards Maharashtra as well as Bardoli and Mandvi,'' said Vaghani.

Despite the expansion of roads and construction of new bridges in the recent times, traffic jams are still happening regularly at some places on the busy Ahmedabad-Mumbai National Highway-8. In order to overcome this situation, the state government will build a new bridge and a service road at a cost of Rs 27 crore between Vadodara and Surat, he said.

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