India’s government-run shipbuilder, Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) has begun fabrication of its pilot Hydrogen Fuel Cell vessel.
This is purportedly India’s first fully indigenous zero-emission fuel cell vessel project.
CSL is partnering with an Indian software integration company, KPTI Technologies and Indian Registry of Shipping (IRS) to carry out the project.
Furthermore, CSL revealed that the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is partially funding the project.
“This vessel is expected to propel India to a strong position on the global front as among the first movers in this niche and emerging technology,” the company said in a release. The fabrication of the new vessel was kicked-off by Madhu S Nair, CMD, CSL.
A catamaran is a watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. Catamarans typically have less hull volume, smaller displacement and shallower draft than monohulls of comparable length.
MoU Signed
Earlier in November 2022, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was inked between the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and CSL to build the country’s first hydrogen fuel cell catamaran vessel for operation in Varanasi.
The Hydrogen Fuel Cell catamaran, named I-CAT 24 06 H2 is a zero-emission water taxi designed for short-distance commutes in riverine waters.
The vessel will be deployed at Varanasi after test and trial runs in Kochi. It would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 250 tonnes annually.
Based on the success of the project, the technology can be adopted for greening of cargo vessels and small country crafts, enabling significant reduction in pollution levels in the national waterways, said a release from CSL.
The NHAI aims to initiate the construction work after completion of 90 per cent land acquisition. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
Work on the Ghaziabad-Kanpur economic corridor is expected to gather steam as the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has reportedly asked for the Detailed Project Report (DPR) submission to be expedited, so that the project is approved and underway soon.
A meeting was held in this regard, following which, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been asked to submit the DPR within three months.
The NHAI has targeted to submit the DPR by the end of May. After this, financial approval will be given by the Ministry for the expenditure on the project. This will include land acquisition and construction expenses.
Three Years And Counting
It was in September 2019 that Nitin Gadkari, Union Road Transport Minister had announced an economic corridor linking Ghaziabad with Kanpur. The idea was to cut travel time between the two industrial cities.
The project was approved by the Ministry on 5 July 2022. Subsequently, the NHAI started DPR work on Ghaziabad-Kanpur economic corridor with a with a 300-day completion deadline.
Alignment
The 380 km expressway will be a greenfield access-controlled economic corridor that will connect Ghaziabad to Kanpur.
Its northern terminal is expected to be located on NH-9 (Ghaziabad-Hapur highway) and its southern terminal between Kanpur-Unnao, on the upcoming 62.7 km Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway.
According to the alignment, the corridor will pass through nine districts- Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Kasganj, Farrukhabad, Kannauj and Unnao and Kanpur.
According to the plan, the economic corridor will be a 4-lane road, and will be expanded to six lanes at underpasses and crossings of waterways.
Being constructed at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore, the Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway is a 62.74-km-long access-controlled road connecting Kanpur and Lucknow.
Significance
As of now, there are no routes connecting Kanpur and Ghaziabad. A drive on the Yamuna Expressway between Ghaziabad and Kanpur takes around six hours, while those travelling on NH-9 need at least eight hours.
Cutting through nine west Uttar Pradesh districts, the greenfield corridor is expected to bring down travel between the two cities to just three hours.
Also, with the construction of the road, an alternative route will be available to the people of western Uttar Pradesh to go to Lucknow and Kanpur.
Currently, those going to Lucknow use the Yamuna Expressway, but when the new expressway is built, they will be able to go to Lucknow via Kanpur as well.
Target 2025
According to NHAI officials, land acquisition will start in 2023 and will be completed within one year after the financial approval of the DPR proposal.
The NHAI aims to initiate the highway construction work after completion of 90 per cent land acquisition. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on 1 April announced the development of the state’s first metro project in Bhubaneshwar.
According to the project approval signed by the Chief Minister on Utkala Dibasa, the statehood day of Odisha, the Metro Project will connect the capital city Bhubaneswar with other peripheral urban centres — Cuttack, Puri and Khordha.
Official sources in the Housing and Urban Development department said that in the first phase, the metro will run from Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar to Netaji Bridge, the entry point to Cuttack from north Bhubaneswar.
The Metro route will cover a distance of over 20 km and will tentatively touch major landmarks such as Bhubaneswar railway station, Nandankanan, Patia, and Vani Vihar.
Indicative Map of Bhubaneswar Metro.
The project will be predominantly based on elevated corridors and will be entirely funded by the state government, said the Chief Minister.
The metro project is likely to be expanded to other nearby towns like Cuttack, Khurda and Puri in subsequent phases, said official sources.
While approving the project, the Odisha CM directed the Housing and Urban Development department to complete the detailed project report (DPR) on a war-footing for the project.
“We have always strived to push boundaries and improve the lives of our people. And today, with the announcement of this new project, we are taking another step towards a new Odisha to provide best in class metro services for the people of the state,” CM Patnaik announced.
“Equipped with state-of art facilities, it will not only offer world-class, environment-friendly urban transport for an emerging and aspirational Odisha, but also spur economic activities and accelerate expansion of our urban city cluster, covering Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri and Khordha.
The emergence of a modern and planned city cluster will attract people, investments, trade and tourism like never before. This will be a truly transformational project implemented using the principles of 5T,” he said in a video-message.
The metro project in Bhubaneswar, Puri, Khurda and Jatni is likely to entail an investment of over Rs 15,000 crore.
In its mission to make the entire rail network of the country run on electric traction, Indian Railways has completed electrifying all broad gauge (BG) routes in 12 states and union territories (UTs), as on 31 March 2023.
Replying to a question in Lok Sabha, Union Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that 100 per cent BG routes have been electrified in four UTs — Puducherry, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, and eight states — Odisha, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
These 12 states and UTs account for 22,374 route kilometre (RKM) of the total BG route electrified.
The RKM of broad-gauge network electrified in these UTs and states stand at: Puducherry (21), Chandigarh (16), J&K (298), Delhi (183), Chhattisgarh (1,170), Odisha (2,822), Haryana (1,701), Himachal Pradesh (67), Uttarakhand (347), Uttar Pradesh (8,434), Jharkhand (2,542) and Madhya Pradesh (4,773).
With respect to other states, more than 90 per cent RKM has been electrified in Andhra Pradesh (96.87 per cent), Bihar (95.13 per cent), Telangana (92.57 per cent), and Maharashtra (90.46 per cent).
The status of electrification in remaining states can be seen in the chart below:
Status of BG route electrification.
In North eastern region, no electrification has been done in any state except Assam, where 621 RKM out of 2,491 RKM has been electrified. Notably, the BG route length in these states is Arunachal Pradesh (12), Manipur (13), Meghalaya (9), Mizoram (2), Nagaland (11), and Tripura (265).
Overall Progress
The Lok Sabha was also informed that 56,248 RKM (i.e., 86.35 per cent) has been electrified out of 65,141 RKM of Indian Railways Broad Gauge Network.
With this, Indian Railways has completed electrification of BG routes in seven zonal railways namely, East Coast Railway, North Central Railway, North Eastern Railway, Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway, West Central Railway, and Central Railway.
The Central Railway zone became the seventh zone to achieve 100 per cent electrification in March 2023 by electrification of the entire BG network of 3,825 RKM.
The electrification on balance 8,893 RKM BG route is under different stages of execution and has been planned for completion in mission mode.
Yearly Progress
Since 2020-21, the Railways has achieved electrification in more routes than the fixed target. It is worth mentioning that record electrification of 6,366 RKM was achieved in Indian Railways’ history during 2021-22. Earlier, highest electrification was 6,015 RKM during 2020-21.
The yearly progress of electrification project is mapped below:
As regards the target for FY 2022-23, actuals were only 2,686 km against the target of 6,500 km upto 31 Dec 2022. For the year 2023-24 a target of 6,500 km has been set by the Ministry of Railways.
Reason for Electrification
Railway electrification in India began with the first electric train, between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Kurla on the Harbour Line, on 3 February 1925, on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) at 1,500 V DC.
The Indian Railways uses 25 kV 50 Hz AC traction on all its electrified tracks.
Electrification offers numerous benefits, including saving over Rs150 crore on fuel bill every year, seamless operations, pollution-free mode of transport, increase in average speed, as well as, throughput on the section.
The Railways has planned to fully electrify its tracks by December 2023.
Total rail electrification would contribute to the goal of “net zero” emissions by 2030 by drawing its entire electrical load from renewable energy sources, it said.
The work on Mumbai-Goa highway will be completed by December 2023, said Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday (30 March).
Gadkari made the remark during the ‘Bhoomi pujan‘ ceremony of the concretisation of the Palaspe-Indapur national highway stretch in Maharashtra’s Panvel.
The route from Mumbai to Goa is covered by the Indapur-Zarap section of National Highway 66 and stretches across the coastal districts of Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg in the state of Maharashtra.
The NH 66 starts from Panvel (Near Mumbai) and extends along the coast side of Sahyadri hill range (Western Ghats) through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala, connecting important cities like Pen, Mahad, Chiplun, Lanja, Rajapur, Kankavli, Kudal, Karwar, Udupi, Mangalore, Kasargod, Calicut and ends near Cochin at Junction of NH-47.
The total length of NH 66 is about 1,270 km out of which 482 km is through Maharashtra (Konkan region).
Four-Laning
Mumbai-Goa section of NH 66 is prone to accidents. Sharp twists and turns on the highway have resulted in several accidents. The widening of this entire highway, by making it four-lane, is expected to address this.
The widening of the NH66 is also expected to create a positive spin-off effect on connectivity, traffic movement, development of tourism and business in this region.
Status
The work of four-laning of Mumbai-Goa highway has been divided into 10 packages at an estimated cost of Rs 15,566 crore.
Out of these, two packages (P-9, P-10) in Sindhudurg district are almost 99 per cent complete.
There is a total of five packages in Ratnagiri district and out of these, two packages (P-4, P-8) have been completed to the extent of 92 per cent and 98 per cent respectively. For two packages (P-6, P-7) the stalled works have been resumed by appointing a new contractor.
Out of the three packages in Raigad district, two packages (P-2, P-3) have been completed 93 per cent and 82 per cent respectively. More than half of the work on package (P-1) has been completed and the remaining work will be completed soon.
Gadkari said that due to land acquisition process, delay in distribution of land acquisition compensation and delay in approval of forest land, the work could not be completed in time.
However, all matters have been resolved now and the work on the highway, which also connects JNPT and Dighi Port is progressing now.
According to the latest update, the work of four-laning of the 250 km stretch of the 356 km highway has been completed.
Impact
The Mumbai-Goa highway touches 66 tourism spots in Maharashtra’s Konkan coast and once completed will boost tourism development.
As this road connects major industrial areas, it will also boost industrial development. Also agriculture and horticulture transport will be facilitated with a boost to the business.
Connectivity to the Konkan region is crucial for taking Maharashtra’s development prospects to the next level.
The four-laning of 54 km stretch on NH105 from Darbhanga to Jaynagar in Madhubani district in Bihar is set to begin as Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has sanctioned Rs 991.88 crore for the project.
The Darbhanga-Jaynagar stretch of NH105, which has been re-designed as NH 527B serves as a key arterial link for trans-national connectivity to Nepal.
The Road Construction Department (RCD) had sent the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for four-laning of the long-delayed project and the same was approved by the Ministry last year.
Out of the total length of 54 km, 15 km stretch of the highway lies in Darbhanga and the rest of the stretch lies in the neighbouring Madhubani.
The RCD, which will build and maintain the road, has already initiated the land acquisition for the project. However, special efforts will be required to acquire land in rest of the stretch in Madhubani, said a RCD official.
With funds being released, the civil work is expected to commence soon after finalising the construction company on the initial 15-km-stretch from Dilli More in Darbhanga to Banwari Patti, situated on the border of Madhubani district.
RCD officials said Rs 430.27 crore would be spent on construction of the road in the next fiscal. The rest of the amount will be allocated for payment of compensation to the landowners, whose plots would be acquired.
The monetary support from MoRTH would give push to the project, likely to be finished in 2025-26.
Connecting to Rail Link
The road is also important for tourism purposes as it will provide a link to the Jaynagar-Kurtha railway service between Bihar and Nepal.
The 35-km rail line-criss-cross from Jayanagar in Bihar to Kurtha in Janakpur, Nepal and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.
The Jaynagar-Kurtha section is part of the 68.7 km Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardidas rail link. Jayanagar is 4 km from the India-Nepal border. This route has Janakpur, the famous pilgrim centre in Nepal and the capital of ancient Mithila region, which is 29 km from Jayanagar.
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday (29 March) was informed that out of a total of 272 km, around 60 per cent (161 km) of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link project has already been commissioned.
Work on balance stretch of Katra-Banihal section of 111 km, has been taken up, said Union Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
Responding to a query from National Conference MP Hasnain Masoodi from Jammu and Kashmir, on the estimated timeline for the completion of the Udhampur-Baramulla Rail Link project, the ministry said completion of any such project depended on various factors.
Such factors include quick land acquisition by state government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, deposition of cost by state government in cost-sharing projects, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the project(s) site, and number of working months in a year due to climatic conditions.
One-Of-Its Kind
The 272-km-long Railway Line from Udhampur to Baramulla joining the Kashmir valley with the Indian Railways network under Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link (USBRL) project was sanctioned in 1994-95.
One of the most challenging works undertaken post-independence by Indian Railways, the project aims to provide an alternative and a reliable transportation system to Jammu and Kashmir.
In view of the importance of the USBRL project in providing seamless and hassle-free connectivity, it was declared as a “National Project” in 2002.
The alignment of USBRL involves construction of a large number of tunnels and bridges in highly rugged and mountainous terrain, with a difficult and complex young Himalayan geology.
Alignment Plan-USBRL Project.
This project involves 38 tunnels (combined length of 119 km), the longest tunnel (T-49) is having a length of 12.75 km and is country’s longest transportation tunnel.
There are 927 bridges (combined length of 13 km). These bridges include the first and only cable-stayed rail bridge in the country being constructed across the steep slope of Anji Khad River.
A total of Rs 26,786 crore has been incurred up to March 2022 on the project against the estimated cost of Rs 37,012 crore, noted the reply.
Three Sections Completed
The length from Udhampur to Baramulla has been divided into four sections. These are Udhampur-Katra (25 km), Katra-Banihal (111 km), Banihal-Quazigund (18 km) and the 118 km Quazigund-Baramulla section.
Out of these, three sections, namely, Udhampur-Katra, Banihal-Quazigund and Quazigund-Baramulla have already been commissioned.
Last week, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Katra-Banihal line will be dedicated to the nation by January 2024.
The execution of the work in the balanced portion between Katra and Banihal has been divided among three agencies — Northern Railway (5 km), KRCL (53 km) and IRCON (53 km).
19 Trains Running
At present, 19 passenger special train services are running in Baramulla-Badgam-Banihal section of the USBRL project.
“Moreover, introduction of new train services or extension of existing train services is an ongoing process subject to traffic demand, operational feasibility and availability of rolling stock,” the Ministry said in its reply.
The story so far: Last week, the government announced setting up of mega textile parks, spread across at least 1,000 acres, in seven States – Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh- under the PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme.
The PM MITRA Scheme, announced in 2021-22 aims to develop integrated large scale and modern industrial infrastructure facility for the entire textile value chain, from fibre to fabric to garment and is expected to generate investments worth Rs 70,000 crore and creation of 20 lakh jobs.
The proposed megaparks will have plug-and-play manufacturing facilities and all the common amenities, including effluent treatment plants, accommodation for workers, skill training centres and warehouses. The park is envisioned to attract investment from companies looking to scale up, requiring integrated manufacturing facilities in one location.
Based on clusterisation approach, the Rs 4,445-crore scheme which would be the biggest-ever initiative for infrastructure in textile and apparel sector is a giant leap over its predecessors and aims to augment the export potential of the sector.
Clusterisation
Simply put, industry clusters are geographic concentrations of related industries.
Clusters consist of companies, suppliers and service providers, as well as government agencies and other institutions that provide raw materials, research and technical support to an industry.
For example, Datang Sock Cluster, located in Zhejiang Province in China is known as the “Capital of Socks”. The cluster produces 27 billion pairs of socks every year worth 75 billion yuan ($11.14 billion) every year, accounting for 70 per cent of the national market and 35 per cent of the global market.
The town which was earlier a small rice farming village has metamorphosed to a place with the presence of the total value chain of socks business aided by Government which provided land, gave tax benefits and developed infrastructure and transportation network needed to move products quickly to the market.
Key Features
The Ministry of Textiles in 2016 had got its scheme on Integrated Textile Parks (SITP) reviewed by Wazir Advisors with a view to gauge the impact of clusterization on production, employment and success.
The report stated that successful clusters share following common attributes:
Large scale of operations: Most of the clusters have units which are large in scale to leverage economies of scale for sourcing, utility consumption, overheads, and marketing.
Presence of integrated value chain: Successful textile clusters, for example, have units across the value chain, starting from fibre to finished goods along with a well-developed support service such as financial institutions, logistics providers, approving authorities, etc. within the area itself.
Well-developed common infrastructure: The Cluster provides reliable common infrastructure to user industry such as connectivity to ports & expressways, uninterrupted power and water supply, ready-to- use factory sheds, testing labs, R&D centres among others.
Ease of doing business: The Government frames more flexible rules and regulations for businesses operating in these clusters, such as single window clearances, liberal work permit policy, easier financing options, etc.
Special fiscal incentives: Many clusters exempt businesses from various local taxes and import duties.
Absence of Integrated Value Chain
The textile sector has benefited from different programmes in the past, the most recent being the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP) launched in 2005.
The main objective of the SITP Scheme was promotion of industrial clusters and development of Integrated Textile Parks which should ideally integrate maximum components of the textile value chain as depicted in the following chart:
However, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India report tabled in Parliament on 27 March, disclosed that the scheme has fallen well short of all of their targets.
Of the 98 integrated textile parks sanctioned by the government since 2005, only 26 parks (26.53 per cent) had been considered as ‘completed’ as of February 2022, with 30 parks (30.61 per cent) still under construction and 42 parks (42.86 per cent) having been cancelled.
A major issue highlighted in the CAG report is that very few Parks are fully integrated Textile Parks (from fibre to finished goods) and have only one to two segments of the value chain.
The absence of key components of the integrated textile value chain in a park i.e., spinning, weaving/ knitting, processing and garmenting means these parks do not provide any benefit of value chain and promotion of industrial clusters which would have led to reduction of production costs.
Secondly, the existing SITP Scheme does not incentivize large scale park development and as a result, the scale required for global competitiveness has not been achieved in textile parks.
PM Mitra
This is where the PM Mitra scheme comes into the picture, the differentiating factors being the emphasis on large-scale production and provision of plug-and-play manufacturing centres.
These parks are envisaged to be located at sites which have inherent strengths for the textile industry to flourish and have necessary linkages to succeed.
Under the scheme, each park will be developed by a Special purpose vehicle (SPV) having a 51 per cent equity shareholding of the State government and 49 per cent of the Centre. The State governments will provide the land, be part of the SPV, and give the required clearances.
The Central government will disburse Development Capital Fund of Rs 500 crore in two tranches for each of the seven facilities. This is for the creation of core and support infrastructure such as effluent treatment plants, accommodation for workers, skill training centres and warehouses.
It will also give a Competitive Incentive Support of Rs 300 crore per park to be provided to the manufacturing units.
Way Forward
In a developed cluster, as the firms are closely related, they benefit by sharing technological and marketing knowledge, and learning effects may be easier to achieve because it is easier to monitor what the neighbours do and learn from their successes and mistakes.
Mega Parks proposed to be set-up under the PM MITRA Scheme would reduce logistics costs by housing the entire value chain at one location which is one of the critical focuses of clusterisation.
Further, these parks can improve the price competitiveness right from the raw material stage and also help meet the sustainability and traceability demands of international buyers.
Inspired by the Prime Minister’s 5F vision – Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign – the PM MITRA scheme is a major step forward to strengthen the global position of India and improve the textile exports which have remained stagnant at around the $40-billion mark over the past four years, the aim is to achieve $100 billion in exports and target a domestic business of $250 billion by 2030.
Nagaland’s capital city Kohima is all set to be connected by Broad Gauge rail connectivity in 2026.
The project is part of the Government’s bid to connect all capital cities of northeast by rail and is being executed by the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR).
NF Railways CPRO Sabysachi De on Tuesday (28 March) asserted that the construction work has been going on in full swing and they are fully confident to complete the project within the deadline.
The Project
The NFR zone is executing the 82.50-km-long Dimapur-Kohima Broad Gauge rail line project at a cost of around Rs 6,663 crore. The project is being carried out in three phases.
The first phase from Dhansiri to Shokhuvi is 16.5-km long and was commissioned on 29 October 2021.
The second phase is 28-km long and extends from Shokhuvi to Pherima, for which contracts have been awarded. It is targeted for completion by March 2023.
The 38-km Pherima-Zubza stretch is the last phase of the project and involves intense hilly areas. It is targeted for completion by March 2026.
The new rail line includes eight new stations — Dhansiri, Dhansiripar, Shokhuvi, Molvom, Pherima, Piphema, Menguzuma and Zubza, which is near Kohima.
The project includes 24 major bridges and 156 minor bridges, four road over bridges, 18 road under bridges, as well as 14 limited height subways. It also has 21 tunnels of a total 31 km length. The tunnel between Pherima to Piphema is the longest of this project which is of 6.5 km length.
Project working conditions to do with the tough topography of the site, the security environment, and a limited working season on account of the long rainy season in the state have affected the progress.
On The Rail Map
Earlier in August last year, the Chief Minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio, had flagged off the extension of Donyi Polo Express (15817/15818) from Shokhuvi Railway Station in Nagaland.
Donyi Polo Express previously ran between Guwahati in Assam and Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh. It has now been extended to Shokhuvi Railway Station via Dhansiri Railway Station in Nagaland, thus establishing direct rail link between Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Nagaland.
The launch marked a historic day for Nagaland, as the state got its second railway station after a gap of more than 100 years, with the Dhansiri–Shokhuvi railway line.
Significance
According to the NFR zone, the new BG rail line from Dimapur to Kohima, once completed, will serve as a new mode of connection between the state capital and the rest of the nation.
The new rail connectivity will largely help in boosting Nagaland’s economy, besides making freight transportation easier and promoting tourism.
After fixing the alignment and completion of peg marking, soil testing has been commenced for determining the soil bearing capacity of Airport Metro in Hyderabad.
The soil testing will be done for about two months for 100 metro pillar locations starting from IKEA junction and going up to Shamshabad International Airport, informed Hyderabad Airport Metro Ltd (HAML) managing director N V S Reddy.
The process involves collecting borehole soil samples up to a depth of about 40 feet from road surface at each location. Soil bearing capacity will be determined through both, in-situ tests and lab tests of the soil samples, Reddy said.
The detailed soil investigation is a necessary exercise to ascertain the type of foundation, that is, open foundation or pile foundation, required depth of the foundation and allowable bearing pressure among others.
Further, these results will also guide the prospective bidders to assess their rates for taking up construction.
The soil testing exercise is expected to be completed in two months and the exercise will run parallelly to the tender preparation and other pre-construction activities.
The MD said necessary precautions including proper barricading of the soil investigation locations, information about the presence of underground utilities, traffic management etc., are being coordinated with the respective departments and the traffic police so as not inconvenience the commuters en route.
Connecting Airport With IT Hub
The airport corridor will connect Mindspace junction near Raidurg Metro station and the city’s international airport located at Shamshabad after traversing along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) of the city.
Estimated to cost Rs 6,250 crore, the project is fully funded by the state government.
The foundation stone for the project was laid by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on 9 December last year.
The 3 corridors under phase-1.
The metro is expected to take just 20 minutes to connect the airport to the main city.
Biodiversity junction, Nanakramguda, Narsingi, TS Police Academy, Rajendranagar, Shamshabad, Airport Cargo station and terminal are expected to be a few of the stations.
The project also called ‘Airport Express Metro Corridor’ would essentially be elevated but 2.5 km of the total stretch will be underground.
