Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the Centre is committed to strengthening the infrastructure of Jharkhand and will implement national highway projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore in the state.
Addressing a public meeting in Garhwa, the minister said so far NH projects worth Rs 40,000 crore have been completed in the state and work is in progress on projects worth Rs 70,000 crore. Apart from this, schemes worth Rs 75,000 crore are in the pipeline.
The minister was in Jharkhand to inaugurate and lay foundation stones of multiple national highway projects worth Rs 6,350 crore. In Garhwa, he launched two important projects — inaugurated a 23-km-long four-lane highway from Shankha to Khajuri, built for Rs 1,130 crore, and laid the foundation stone for a Rs 1,330-crore project for widening (four-lane) a 32-km stretch of NH-39 from the Chhattisgarh–Jharkhand interstate border to Gumla. He made a series of infrastructure-related declarations for Ranchi and other parts of Jharkhand.
Speaking in Ranchi during the inauguration of the city’s elevated flyover, Gadkari said India’s logistics cost, once as high as 16% of the GDP, has now come down to 10% and will further reduce to 9% by the end of this year. “This will help boost exports, promote industrial growth and generate employment across sectors,” he said.
The minister announced several ongoing and new national highway and expressway projects across Jharkhand. Among the major corridors mentioned were the Rs 40,000-crore Varanasi–Ranchi–Kolkata corridor, Rs 10,000-crore Ranchi–Patna economic corridor (88% work completed), Rs 13,000-crore Ranchi–Varanasi four-lane upgrade (60% completed) and Rs 18,000-crore Raipur–Dhanbad four-lane economic corridor (77% completed). He also said that 60% of the work on the Rs 35,000-crore Delhi–Kolkata six-lane corridor was over; 146 km of the corridor passes through Jharkhand.
Apart from these, Gadkari announced new projects including a Rs 8,000-crore economic corridor (121 km in Jharkhand) that will reduce the Ranchi–Odisha route by nearly 100 km, and a Rs 7,000-crore 90-km stretch of the Raxaul–Haldia expressway passing through the state, which will connect regions of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal to the Haldia port.
He also mentioned bypasses, elevated roads and underpasses in Ranchi, Deoghar, Jamshedpur and other cities worth thousands of crores aimed at improving traffic flow and connectivity.
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Gadkari said there is no shortage of funds for infrastructure development in Jharkhand. “Funds are not a constraint. The only hurdles are environment and forest clearances and land acquisition. The state government must resolve these issues quickly. Once that is done, I will ensure all projects are funded and implemented without delay.”
Speaking in Garhwa, Gadkari said the Varanasi–Ranchi–Kolkata Greenfield Corridor worth Rs 36,000 crore will be completed by March 2028. The Ranchi–Varanasi Economic Corridor worth Rs 12,800 crore will be ready by January 2028.
He said that Jharkhand’s NH network, which was 2,600 km in 2014, has now increased to 4,470 km. Also, 19 aspirational districts of the state have been connected with national highways, said the minister.
