The West Bengal government has announced a host of key infrastructural projects in its maiden budget proposal, including constructing a four-lane bridge over the Mayurakshi river, an elevated corridor connecting Chingrighata to New Town in Kolkata, as well as undertaking a techno-economic feasibility study for metro-link between Durgapur-Asansol and Siliguri-Jalpaiguri, among several others, which have the potential to transform the state’s landscape.
Deep sea port at Dandanpatrabarh
The state government has highlighted in its budget that the existing ports of Haldia and Kolkata suffer from low draft and high turnaround time and hence there is a need to construct a strategic deep-sea port.
The government has hence planned to develop a deep sea port at Dandanpatrabarh in Purba Medinipur District through PPP model which will have an integrated port estate for cargo handling, storage and ancillary industries, multimodal dedicated road or rail connectivity.
Bhagirathi Major Bridge
The government has also announced the ‘Bhagirathi Major Bridge’ connecting Kalna and Santipur at an estimated cost of Rs 1,200 crore, which is expected to give a boost to trade and socio-economic growth in the area.
Chingrighata-New Town elevated corridor
The Suvendu Adhikari government has also proposed the construction of a 7.41 km long Chingrighata-New Town elevated corridor linking EM Bypass to Salt Lake Sector V at a estimated cost of Rs 900 crore. The corridor is slated to have ramps, elevated parking base, noise barriers, bridge health monitoring system and CCTV surveillance.
Road Corridor Project between Dankuni, Mogra
The government has also planned a 35 km Road Corridor Project between Dankuni Junction and Mogra in the Hoogly district at an approximate cost of Rs 1,850 crore.
4-lane bridge over Mayurakshi
It has been proposed to construct of a new four-lane bridge over Mayurakshi river on NH14 including four-lane bridge over the Right Bank Main Canal (RBMC) and Left Bank Main Canal (LBMC) in Birbhum at a cost of Rs 800 crore.
Metro-links at Durgapur-Asansol
The government has planned to conduct a techno-economic feasibility study for metro-link between Durgapur-Asansol and Siliguri-Jalpaiguri.
Rs 100 crore for Bhagirathi, Hooghly rivers
The state government has proposed a budgetary allocation of Rs 100 crore for the Bhagirathi and Hooghly rivers flowing across central and south Bengal, to improve jetties, provide link roads between the jetties and the rural markets, improvement of these markets, and fisheries in the adjoining areas.
Pontoon-based jetties in Sundarbans
The government has pointed out that since the use of waterways is the most sustainable option to reach out to the remote islands of Sundarbans, it has proposed to provide a budgetary support of Rs 100 crore for construction of pontoon-based jetties and related infrastructure to improve connectivity.
Moreover, solar operated boats with low carbon footprints will also be promoted for carrying goods and passengers.
Ro-Ro terminals at Shalimar-Garden Reach stretch
The government has also proposed to build Ro-Ro terminals at Shalimar-Garden Reach stretch to reduce traffic pressures on Vidyasagar Setu and arterial roads in both Kolkata and Howrah.
Minor ports
The budget has pointed out that Bengal has the potential to develop several minor ports including Kulpi, as they play an important role in transportation of cargo and passengers, support fishing activities and facilitate regional trade.
The government has proposed an allocation of Rs 100 crore for improvement of infrastructure in these minor ports in the form of passenger jetties, cargo handling terminals, evacuation mechanisms, public amenities, approach roads and other related infrastructure.
For improving connectivity to Sagar Island in South 24 Parganas district, a bridge over the Muriganga River is under consideration.
“To initiate the detailed drawing of the project, required plant and machinery and land acquisition, rupees 100 crores have been allocated. To fulfil the long pending demand of the people of East Midnapore, an all-weather bridge would be constructed between Nandigram and Haldia,” Dasgupta pointed out.
Under the Rising East Scheme of the central government, the state government would play a vital role in land acquisition for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor between Dankuni and Ludhiana. The corridor also referred to by its acronym EDFC has so far been completed upto Andal.
To proceed with the last leg of the project, Dasgupta proposed a proactive role of the state government to solve the bottlenecks including land hurdles. The finance department also announced proposals to develop Dankuni as a multi-model logistics hub.
“In addition our government will also take proactive measures to implement the Dankuni-Surat Dedicated Freight Corridor as announced in the Union Budget to improve logistics and reduce time travel for goods trains,” said the finance minister.
As reiterated by the state minister, to ease traffic congestion and improve mobility, 70 sites have been identified for road over bridges to be constructed jointly by the state government and the Railway ministry.
Notably, the state budget tabled by the new finance minister of the state, has allocated Rs 2,697.42 crore to the state Transport Department.
In the vote-on-account announced by the previous Trinamool Congress government, Rs 2,307.30 crore was allocated to the department. The state finance minister has also allocated Rs 550 crores to transport corporations for facilitating free travel by women commuters in the state-run buses.
In addition to these, the state government has also proposed the revival of the Calcutta Stock Exchange, allocation of Rs 1,200 crore for the Ghatal Master Plan, a flood management project for the Medinipur region, a semiconductor manufacturing unit in Durgapur, and an IT park in Siliguri.