Cabinet approves Rs 24,000 crore highways in Varanasi

The union cabinet, on Wednesday, approved national highway projects of over Rs 24,000 crore in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, aimed at decongesting the temple town. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also approved railway multi-tracking projects in Odisha for Rs 3,907 crore. These are doubling of Paradeep – Haridaspur (Odisha), and fourth line for Rajkharsawan – Dangoaposi (Jharkhand) portions of railway tracks.


The approved highway project includes development of a link corridor between NH-19 and the Varanasi Ring Road to be built at a total capital cost of Rs 14447.64 crore under the hybrid annuity model. The civil construction cost of the project will be Rs 6,037.85 crore while the land acquisition cost will be Rs 541.11 crore under NH(O).


The second project is also a link corridor connecting NH-31 and the Varanasi Ring Road to be built at a cost of Rs 10,998.32 crore under HAM. Of this, civil construction cost is Rs 4,565.33 crore while land acquisition cost is Rs 934.91 crore.

The two railway projects cover four districts across Odisha and Jharkhand. They will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 145 kilometres. These capacity augmentation works will result in 44 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) additional freight traffic.

The highway projects will provide seamless connectivity between the national highways and the Varanasi Ring Road, significantly decongesting the city’s road network and improving urban mobility, the ministry of road transport and highways said in a statement.

“Designed for an operating speed of 80–100 km/h, the first project is expected to reduce the average travel time across the project influence area from approximately 60 minutes to 20 minutes, representing a reduction of nearly 67% while the second project will reduce travel time between NH-31 and Kashi Railway Station from approximately 40 minutes to 20 minutes, representing a reduction of nearly 50%.” it added.

According to MoRTH, the two projects will significantly decongest the city’s road network, improve road safety, reduce vehicle operating costs and facilitate faster, uninterrupted movement of passenger and freight traffic.

Aligned with the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, the corridors will strengthen multimodal connectivity by providing seamless access to major highways, railway stations and ports while significantly improving connectivity to key religious, educational and cultural landmarks, including the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Namo Ghat, Ramnagar Fort and the Ghats of Varanasi.

“By linking important economic, social and logistics nodes, the project will improve logistics efficiency, enhance road safety, facilitate tourism and pilgrimage, and support sustainable regional economic growth across eastern Uttar Pradesh,” it added.