Mumbai: Five Star Bus Terminus In State Soon: Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai, 14th April 2023: Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari announced on Thursday (13th April) that five-star bus terminus will now be set up on the lines of airports across the country. He also explained that the public transport system needs to be made more efficient to reduce the increasing pollution and the government is taking measures in that direction.

Gadkari was speaking at the 11th Biennial International Conference organized by the ‘Mumbai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’ (MCHI). Mumbai Port Trust Chairman Rajiv Jalota, Anil Radhakrishnan, and others were present on this occasion.

Airport construction is going on all over the country. Along the same lines, a policy is being prepared to set up a five-star bus terminus.

“There have been nine proposals for this type of bus terminus in Goa and if the Maharashtra government approves, there are preparations to set up such a terminus at various places in the state. States should provide space, we are ready to invest,” said Gadkari.

He also said that the policy in this regard will be finalized soon.

To ensure that the import-export goods reach the ports in time, the port connectivity project has been undertaken at a cost of around Rs 66,799 crores. 15 of these projects are in the state. Gadkari also informed that a 506 km long highway network connecting the ports of Jawaharlal Nehru, Jaigarh, Gardhan, etc at Rs 11,770 crore is being developed and about 200 km long roads have been completed.

“In other cities too, emphasis is being placed on increasing the use of electric vehicles in public transport and now we have to wait for electric vehicles for private use,” Gadkari informed that ropeways are being constructed at 260 places across the country, including Trimbakeshwar, Nashik, Nainital, Hrishikesh, Kullu, Ujjain, Kedarnath, etc.

Gadkari said that while emphasizing on the public transport system to reduce pollution in Delhi, roads have been planned so that the vehicles coming from the city can go to their desired destinations outside the city.

About 350 crore trees are being planted on both sides of roads and highways across the country for environmental conservation and 50,000 trees have been replanted. He said that bamboo will be planted on both sides of the Delhi-Mumbai highway.

35 Multi-Purpose Communication Service Centers (Multimodal Logistics Parks) are being set up across the country at Rs two lakh crore, of which the parks at Jalna and Wardha have been completed. The direct facility of import-export is available from there and these centres will be set up in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Hyderabad, Delhi, Varanasi, etc soon. Gadkari also claimed that about 70 crore metric tons of goods will be imported and exported every year.

When it was pointed out that the High Court had repeatedly expressed displeasure over the stalled work on the Mumbai- Goa highway, Gadkari said that the court has the right to speak, but once the court should inspect the highway. He said that the work of this project has also stalled due to a court stay. He also reminded that the environment department of the state took 1.5 years to permit the Versova Khadi bridge on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway.

Measures are needed to reduce pollution in Mumbai. For this, the central government has decided to connect the Delhi-Mumbai highway between Virar-Bandra by a sea bridge. Gadkari also claimed that a project costing Rs 1,200 crore and connecting a highway to Navi Mumbai Airport worth Rs 10,000 crore has been undertaken to remove traffic congestion in Panvel. Once these two projects are completed, the problem of traffic congestion in the Navi Mumbai-Panvel area will be solved forever.