Centre to invest Rs.52,000 Crore in Bengal Port, Road Sectors

Kolkata, Jan 9: The central government will invest around Rs.52,000 crore for strengthening the port and road infrastructure in West Bengal, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to lay the foundation of the much-awaited deep sea port, the work on which begins from March, a central minister said here on Friday.

The technical and feasibility study on the deep sea port to come up at Sagar island in the state is complete, union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari told the Bengal Global Business Summit here.

“The work will begin in March. The prime minister will lay the foundation for the deep sea port,” he said. Around Rs.15,000 crore would be spent in the ports sector. Gadkari also said the government will spent Rs.37,482 crore on the road sector in the state.

“I promise that before March we will at least start the work for more than Rs 10,000 crore and before end of December next year we will start all these projects,” he said.

Gadkari said the amount includes declaration of new highways extending over 596 km at a cost of Rs.6,000 crore. The detailed project report is in process and the project would start next year.

Besides, bridges, roads and railway overbridges are part of the project sanctioned for the state. (IANS)