India Clears Rs 9,814 Crore Airport and Ring Road Projects

India’s Union Cabinet on 19 August cleared two major transport projects worth a combined Rs 9,814 crore, underscoring the government’s push to upgrade regional connectivity ahead of the FY26 infrastructure cycle. The approvals cover a greenfield airport at Kota-Bundi in Rajasthan and a six-lane Capital Region Ring Road bypassing Bhubaneswar in Odisha. The greenfield airport will be built at an estimated Rs 1,507 crore. Plans call for a 20,000-square-metre terminal and a 3,200-metre runway capable of handling about two million passengers annually. Officials said the new facility will ease travel to the Kota education hub and surrounding industrial clusters while opening additional tourism and employment opportunities in south-eastern Rajasthan. Separately, the Cabinet authorised construction of a 110.875-kilometre, access-controlled ring road encircling Bhubaneswar and linking Cuttack, Khordha and other urban centres. Budgeted at Rs 8,307.74 crore under the Hybrid Annuity Model, the six-lane corridor will connect three national highways and one state highway, divert heavy freight traffic from city centres and integrate with ports, rail hubs and a planned multi-modal logistics park. The road project is expected to generate roughly 74.4 lakh direct and 93 lakh indirect person-days of work, according to a government briefing. Union Railways and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the twin approvals will lower logistics costs and support broader socio-economic growth in eastern India and Rajasthan.