Nitin Gadkari

With an aim to improve the road connectivity with neighbouring nations Indian Government has signed Motor Vehicle Pacts (MVP) with Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal and now it is proposing with Sri Lanka with an aim to improve the road connectivity with Sri Lanka.

This is one of the most ambitious road project to connect Sri Lanka and India with the help of a sea-bridge and an underwater tunnel, which was believed to have been discussed  the by Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping during a meeting with Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan Prime Minister. According to official sources, Nitin Gadkari, called on Wickremesinghe  and discussed about the construction of a sea bridge as well as an underwater tunnel linking of 22 km between Dhanushkodi in India and Talaimannar in the Island Nation.

After improving the road connectivity with neighboring nations such as; Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan under the Motor Vehicle Pacts (MVP) now India is proposing the same with Sri Lanka. According to reliable sources, It was also proposed that during the Secretary-level meeting representatives of ADB will discuss the project in Sri Lanka. “The multi-level funding agency ADB has already agreed to provide the financial support for the infrastructure of the projects which is worth about $ 8 billion for BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) region, apart from that they have also shown interest in financing $ 5.19 billion India-Sri Lanka proposed project.

India also want Sri Lanka to join the Motor Vehicle Agreement of BBIN, which was signed in June 2015 in Bhutan during Gadkari’s visit as he was visited here with an aim to facilitate cross-border movement of all types of vehicles in the BBIN region. It is expected that work on the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) which is worth of $ 8 billion will complete in next two years. However; by the end of 2015 India will enter in another landmark motor pact with Myanmar and Thailand. According to Nitin Gadkari, ADB is ready to finance the project “which aims to improve the connectivity with Sri Lanka”. The more he added that it was the only missing link of narrow corridor which was about 22 km in connectivity to Sri Lanka from Rameshwaram that is presently being serviced through makeshift ferry service arrangements. According to Nitin Gadkari we are working on the project and soon it will be completed, however; Trans Asia Road and transport network could be extended to Sri Lanka.

Mumbai’s tallest commercial buildings

Mumbai is going to have the tallest commercial building of India, in the leadership of Nitin Gadkari, Ministry of Shipping is planning to construct a tower in a business district on the land of Mumbai Port to monetize the asset and space in the financial capital of the country. According to Nitin Gadkari, “It will be 130 – storey tower and there will be offices and houses along with all the essential facilities and amenities. However; project is still in initial stage and we are working on the plan.

Whole project will cost more than 10,000 crore and is planned to develop without the support of government money because Ministry of Shipping is planning to raise funds through pre-booking of space from private companies and public sector units. It is expected that proposed building will be the vicinity of Nariman Point, once upon time which was Mumbai’s leading business district located at Fort area at South Mumbai. Currently, Ministry of Shipping is in the process to prepare a blueprint for the project through international consultation. According to statement of a senior government official, “Ministry of Shipping is preparing a separate master plan for the land of port and this upcoming building will be part of it. However; still government have to finalize the land parcel and the particular area for building”. Apart from that the number of floors, contours of the project and fixed location of the building at the port trust premises are yet to be finalized.

In Mumbai other business districts include the Bandra Kurla Complex, which was set up in the suburb of city to decongest the commercial areas in South of Mumbai. The government is planning to undertake the whole project because government is not interested to give land to private builders for the re-development of the project. According to Jaijit Bhattacharya, who is Partner-Infrastructure at KPMG, “If government is interested to address the logistics issues for the evacuation of people without stressing the cargo-laden port roads, so the proposed 130-storey building should have a demonstrative effect on a mechanism for land monetization which owned by ports”.