Ambitious Chambal Expressway Project Directly Connecting Madhya Pradesh To Rajasthan, To Be Fast-Tracked

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSME Nitin Gadkari today (4 July) reviewed the proposed Chambal Express Project with Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar and Jyotiraditya Scindya through a video conference.

Last month, Gadkari had said if the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is able to acquire land for the ambitious project Chambal Expressway in three months, the Centre would quickly start work on it.

The proposed Chambal Expressway,estimated to cost Rs 8200 crore, will provide a direct link between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. 280-km-long expressway will run parallel to the Chambal river via Shivpuri, Bhind, Morena to Kota (Rajasthan).

The expressway will connect the North-South Corridor to the East-West Corridor and will lead to overall development of the area, the minister added. The expressway will have a length of 85 km in Rajasthan and 195 km in Madhya Pradesh. At least 80 per cent of its land identified for the expressway project belongs to the government.

The expressway also will provide cross connectivity with Golden Quadrilateral’s Delhi-Kolkata corridor, North-South Corridor, East-West Corridor and Delhi-Mumbai -Expressway.

Around 1,150 hectare land will be required for the project in Madhya Pradesh. Of this, around 550 hectare was government land and rest needs to be acquired from farmers.

Chambal expressway project was initiated during the previous Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, but the project hit a hurdle as as government changed in MP before the land acquisition process could be initiated

During the review meeting today, Gadkari called for expeditious environment clearance, land acquisition and royalty/local tax exemptions to make project see the light of the day soon.

Gadkari underlined that apart from providing smooth traffic & goods movement the project will immensely benefit the area and people of the backward region along the Expressway.

He also stated that land acquisition should cater to the development of way side amenities besides industrial and commercial clusters with potential for having smart cities, mandis, humar haats etc on both sides.

Gadkari informed the meeting that he has already directed NHAI Chairman S S Sandhu to prepare the DPR to prepare DPR at the earliest and said that that project may be completed in about 2 years after land acquisition.

Gadkari suggested setting up a Chambal Development Authority for better coordination and progress of this region and called upon the States to sort out forest, environment & Land acquisition issues in top priority.

Gadkari urged that Chief Ministers of states through which road will pass should chair a State level High Powered Committee meeting to sort all State specific issues which will facilitate the faster implementation at optimum cost.

Madhya Pradesh has already announced that it will exempt royalty on minerals for this project.