NHAI to build Dandi Heritage Route

Ahmedabad: The Union Government will spend a total of Rs 1,346 crore on the construction of the 385-km-long Dandi Heritage Route between Ahmedabad and Dandi in Surat district.

In the first phase, the Centre has earmarked for the State Government to make the road motorable at a cost of Rs 146 crore. Another Rs 1,200 crore would be spent to make it a four-lane highway in the second phase through the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Mr K.H. Muniyappa, Union Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, said. The Route would be completed by NHAI by December 2008.

The Minister, who was here for a periodical meeting to review road projects of his Ministry under implementation in Gujarat, said the Centre had also planned to link Porbander with the national highway, NH-8B.

The Centre has asked the State Government to provide land at Porbander for public utilities. About 50 per cent work on the Vadodara-Surat road, part of the Golden Quadrilateral from Delhi to Mumbai, has been completed and the six-lane Surat-Mumbai segment would be completed by 2011, he said.

NHAI has already four-laned 485 km of the Golden Quadrilateral under Phase One of National Highway Development Program (NHDP) in Gujarat, at a cost of Rs 1,575 crore. Besides, projects worth Rs 1,205 crore with a total length of 1,698 km have been undertaken by NHAI under NHDP in Gujarat, from Phase One to Six, Mr Muniyappa added.