New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the widening of the existing Armoor-Jagtial-Mancherial section of National Highway (NH)-63 on hybrid annuity model (HAM), and Jagtial-Karimnagar section of National Highway (NH)-563 on Build-Operate-Transfer (Toll) to the 4-lane standard under three work packages, with a combined total length of 190.76 km and combined total capital cost of Rs 7,597.16 crore.

The project section of Armoor-Jagtial-Mancherial passes through Nizamabad, Jagtial, and Mancherial Districts of Telangana, facing severe congestion at present due to several built-up areas along the highway, such as, Anksapoor, Korutla, Jagtial, Dharmapuri, Lakshettipet and Mancherial.

Similarly, the Jagtial- Karimnagar section passes through severely congested and heavily built-up places along the stretch, such as Jagtial, Potharam, Gangadhara and Karimnagar.

The projects are proposed to have a 4-lane configuration with bypasses to built-up areas with open tolling, ensuring design speed of 100 km per hour and improved travel efficiency across the districts of Nizamabad, Jagtial, Mancherial and Karimnagar in Telangana. The project will also enhance regional mobility and promote socio-economic development, the statement said.

Upon completion, travel time is expected to reduce by about 1 hour and 30 minutes between Armoor and Mancherial and by about 45 minutes between Jagtial and Karimnagar, while providing safe, fast, and uninterrupted connectivity for both passenger and freight traffic. Additionally, the project will result in substantial reductions in fuel consumption, carbon emissions, and vehicle operating costs (VOC), the statement explained.

The projects are expected to generate 34.43 lakh man-days of direct employment and another 42.7 lakh man-days of indirect employment, the official statement said.

The projects are in line with the PM GatiShakti principles and will connect five economic nodes, seven social nodes and 10 logistic nodes. This will have a positive impact on the Logistic Performance Index (LPI) of the country, the statement added.

–IANS

sps/na