Key Points
India's longest bridge, the 22-km (14-mile) Atal Setu linking central Mumbai with a fast-growing commercial hub across the Arabian Sea, will open on Friday in a ceremony by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a centrepiece of his government's infrastructure drive...
Modi's five-year, $1 trillion infrastructure push across the country, a key part of his pitch for a third term ahead of this year's general election, aims both to boost jobs and to keep up with China and other modernising economies...
It also reflects a stronger public financing position for the world's fastest-growing major economy, which is paring its fiscal deficit even as it increases capital investments, although some analysts see potential risks if it cannot also draw more investment from the private sector...
The $2.2 billion bridge, under construction since 2016, will cut travel time between central Mumbai and the rapidly developing areas of Navi Mumbai - home to one of India's biggest ports as well as new hospitals and universities and global retail chains like IKEA - to 20 minutes from two hours, said Sanjay Mukherjee, head of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority...
While industrial infrastructure has often been the focus of India's previous campaigns, the Modi government is targeting more projects directed at the broader public, including a Rs 1 lakh crore bullet train and utilities such as electricity, water and gas, said Vinayak Chatterjee, infrastructure analyst and founder of the Infravision Foundation, a think-tank...
