- The government has approved a scheme for development of 1,126 km of national highways and 4,351 km of state roads in left -wing extremism (LWE) affected areas as a special project with an estimated cost of about ` 7,300 crore. Development in 3,299 km length has been completed up to December 2014 and cumulative expenditure incurred so far is ` 4,374 crore.
- The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. has been created to expedite development of highways in the North-Eastern region and border areas.
- During April -December 2014-15, 101.34 million domestic passengers and 36.74 million international passengers were handled at Indian airports.
- International cargo throughput at Indian airports was17 million metric tons while domestic cargo throughput stood at 0.74 million metric tons.
- The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is managing 125 airports in the country. It has finalized a no frills airport model to build airports in remote areas with the objective of improving air connectivity and boosting the country’s economic growth.
- During 2014-15, the AAI has completed development of airports at Bikaner and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan), Bhatinda (Punjab), and Cuddapah (Andhra Pradesh).
The major initiatives to augment better airport infrastructure across the country are:
- Implementation of PPP projects at four airports of the AAI, namely Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur,
- Setting up of greenfield airports, namely, Mopa in Goa; Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra; Shimoga, Gulbarga, Hassan, and Bijapur in Karnataka; Kannur and Arnamula in Kerala; Durgapur in West Bengal; Pakyong in Sikkim; Datia/Gwalior (cargo) in Madhya Pradesh; Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh; and Karaikal in Puducherry, and
- Development of small airports in Tier II and Tier III cities, namely Hubli and Belgaum in Karnataka, Kishangarh in Rajasthan, Jharsuguda in Odisha, and Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh.
