Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of 23 projects worth over Rs 17,500 crore in Uttarakhand.

Among the 23 projects, the foundation stone is being laid for 17 projects worth over Rs 14,100 crore. According to Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), these projects cover a wide array of sectors/areas across the state including irrigation, road, housing, health infrastructure, industry, sanitation, drinking water supply.

The programme will witness the inauguration of six projects including multiple road widening projects, a hydropower project in Pithoragarh and projects to improve the sewerage network in Nainital. The cumulative cost of the projects being inaugurated is over Rs 3,400 crore.

The Prime Minister is laying the foundation stone of the Lakhwar Multipurpose Project to be built at a cost of about Rs 5,750 crore.

In line with the Prime Minister’s vision to improve connectivity at far-flung places of the country, inauguration and foundation stone laying of multiple road sector projects worth about Rs 8700 crore is being done.

The projects whose foundation stones are being laid include four laning of 85 kilometre Moradabad-Kashipur Road to be built at a cost of over Rs 4000 crore; two laning of 22 Kilometre stretch of Gadarpur-Dineshpur-Madkota-Haldwani road (SH-5) and 18 kilometre stretch of Kiccha to Pantnagar (SH-44); construction of 8-kilometre long Khatima bypass in Udham Singh Nagar; construction of four-lane National Highway (NH109D) being built at a cost of over 175 crore.

These road projects will improve the connectivity of Garhwal, Kumaon and Terai region and also the connectivity between Uttarakhand and Nepal. Improved connectivity will also benefit industrial areas in Rudrapur and Lalkuan besides improving the accessibility of Jim Corbett National Park.

Further, foundation stones of multiple road projects all across the state under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna is also being laid by the Prime Minister.

The projects include laying of 133 rural roads with a total length of 1157 kilometres at a cost of more than Rs 625 crore and the construction of 151 bridges at a cost of about Rs 450 crores.

The road projects being inaugurated by the Prime Minister include a project of 99 kilometre road widening from Nagina to Kashipur (NH-74) built at the cost of over Rs 2500 Crore and projects to widen road at three stretches in the strategic Tanakpur-Pithoragarh road (NH 125) built under all-weather road project at the cost of over 780 crore.

The three stretches are from Chyurani to Ancholi (32 kilometre), from Bilkhet to Champawat (29 kilometre) and from Tilon to Chyurani (28 kilometre).

In an endeavour to expand the medical infrastructure of the state and provide world-class medical facilities to the people in all parts of the country, the Prime Minister is laying the foundation stone of AIIMS Rishikesh satellite centre in Udham Singh Nagar district and Jagjivan Ram Government Medical College at Pithoragarh. These two hospitals are being built at a cost of about Rs 500 crores and Rs 450 crore respectively.