नवीनतम
Cabinet approves 4-lane Greenfield access-controlled Mokama-Munger Section
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the construction of a 4-lane Greenfield access-controlled Mokama-Munger section of the Buxar-Bhagalpur High-Speed Corridor in Bihar on the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) with a total project length of 82.4 km with an outlay of Rs 4447.38 Crore
Briefing the media persons, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed that the section passes through or provides connectivity to important regional cities such as Mokama, Barahiya, Lakhisarai, Jamalpur, Munger, and connects to Bhagalpur.
“The Munger–Jamalpur-Bhagalpur belt in Eastern Bihar is emerging as a key industrial region focusing on an ordinance factory (Existing gun factory and 1 more proposed as part of the Ordnance Factory Corridor by Defence), locomotive workshop (in Jamalpur), food processing (ITC in Munger) and related logistics & warehousing hubs,” he added.
He further said Bhagalpur stands out as a textile and logistics hub, led by Bhagalpuri silk (details of the proposed textile ecosystem in Bhagalpur. Barahiya is emerging as a region for food packaging, processing and agro-warehousing. The increased economic activity in the region is expected to drive up the freight movement and the traffic on the Mokama-Munger section in the future.
The 4-lane access-controlled corridor with close tolling, supporting average vehicular speeds of 80 km/h with a design speed of 100 km/h, will reduce the overall travel time to approximately 1.5 hours, while offering safer, faster, and uninterrupted connectivity for both passenger and freight vehicles, he stated.
The proposed project with 82.40 km will generate about 14.83 lakh man-days of direct employment and 18.46 lakh man-days of indirect employment. The project will also induce additional employment opportunities due to an increase in economic activity in the vicinity of the proposed corridor, Vaishnaw said.
In another project, Union Minister Vaishnaw said the approval has been given for the doubling of the Bhagalpur – Dumka - Rampurhat single railway line Section (177 km) in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal with a total cost of Rs. 3,169 crore.
“The enhanced line capacity will improve mobility, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways. The multi-tracking proposal will ease operations and reduce congestion, providing the much-needed infrastructural development on the busiest sections across Indian Railways,” he explained.
The project covering five Districts in three states, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 177 km.
The project section also provides rail connectivity to prominent destinations such as Deoghar (Baba Baidyanath Dham) and Tarapith (Shakti Peeth), attracting pilgrims and tourists from across the country. Multi-tracking projects will enhance connectivity to approximately. 441 villages and about 28.72 lakh population and three Aspirational Districts (Banka, Godda and Dumka), he said.
This is an essential route for transportation of commodities such as coal, cement, fertilizers, bricks and stones, etc. The capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 15 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum). The Railways, being an environmentally friendly and energy efficient mode of transportation, will help both in achieving climate goals and minimising logistics cost of the country, reduce oil import (5 Crore Litres) and lower CO2 emissions (24 Crore Kg), which is equivalent to the plantation of one crore trees.
