With the landmark Rs 58,000 crore National Highway Development Project (NHDP) having started paying dividends, the Government has launched another ambitious Rs 40,000 crore project to connect all major cities, uncovered by NHDP, by four-lane highways.Code-named Pradhan Mantri Bharat Jodo Pariyojana or ‘‘PM-BJP’’, the project involves four-laning of 10,000 km road stretches, identified on the basis of traffic density, connectivity of state capitals with NHDP and centres of tourism and economic activity by the year 2008, Minister for Road Transport and Highways B.C. Khanduri said.‘‘We have already tendered for construction of 622 km and expect four-laning of these in 30 months,’’ he said.On NHDP, Khanduri said, four-six laning of 2,395 km of the first phase called Golden Quardilateral, connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, has been completed, while work on 3,368 km stretch was in full swing. Contract for the 83 km Allahabad by-pass was yet to be awarded, he added.‘‘I expect 95 per cent of the 5,846 km Golden Quadrilateral to be completed by the target date of December 2004,’’ he said.Of the 7,300 km corridors, 565 km has already been four-laned, while work on 433 km was in full swing. This section of NHDP is expected to be completed by 2007, he said.
