The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given nod to develop a greenfield airport at Kota-Bundi, Rajasthan. The project cost is Rs 1,507 crore.
On Tuesday at the Cabinet meeting, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the existing airport can handle only small aircraft. The new airport will be 23 km away from the existing airport.
The Cabinet Committee also approved 6-lane Access-Controlled Capital Region Ring Road. This route, which will be called the Bhubaneswar Bypass, would be 110.875 kilometers long and cost Rs 8307.74 crore to build.
6-lane Access-Controlled Capital Region Ring Road
“Upon completion, the bypass will play a pivotal role in regional economic growth, strengthening connectivity between major religious and economic centers and opening new avenues for trade and industrial development,” the Centre said.
The project alignment integrates with three major National Highways (NH-55, NH-57 and NH-655) and one State Highway (SH-65), providing seamless connectivity to key economic, social, and logistics nodes across Odisha.
The project will generate approximately 74.43 lakh person-days of direct and 93.04 lakh person-days of indirect employment, and will open new avenues of growth, development and prosperity in surrounding regions.
Additionally, the upgraded corridor will enhance multi-modal integration by connecting with 10 Economic Nodes, 04 Social Nodes and 05 Logistic Nodes, providing enhanced multimodality with 1 Major Railway Station, 1 Airport, 1 proposed Multi-Modal Logistics Park (MMLP), and 2 major Ports thereby facilitating faster movement of goods and passengers across the region, said an official statement.
Currently, connectivity between Rameshwar to Tangi on existing National Highway experience significant congestion due to high traffic volumes, passing through highly urbanized cities Khordha, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
To address these challenges, the project is proposed to be developed as 6-lane access-controlled Greenfield Highway.
The project will provide significant benefit to Odisha and other eastern States by diverting heavy commercial traffic away from Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khordha Cities. This will enhance the efficiency of freight movement, reducing logistics cost and driving socio-economic growth in the region.
