The Golden Quadrilateral that connects the four major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata is part of the _________ project.

Explanation

The correct answer is Bharatmala. Key Points The Golden Quadrilateral that connects the four major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata is part of the Bharatmala project. Tthe principal routes of the Indian Railways on the Golden Quadrilateral and diagonals are: Delhi - Mumbai, Delhi - Howrah, Howrah - Chennai, Chennai - Mumbai, Delhi - Chennai, and Howrah - Mumbai) Carrying about 58% of freight traffic and 52% of coaching traffic. India has about 62.16 lakh kilometres of the road network, which is the second largest in the world in terms of length. It was important to redefine road development and have a macro approach while planning an expansion of the national highways network. Additional Information Bharatmala Project Bharatmala focuses on enhanced effectiveness of already built infrastructure, multi-modal integration, bridging infrastructure gaps for seamless movement and integrating National and Economic Corridors. There are six key features of the programme: 1. Economic Corridors : Integrating the economic corridors facilitates larger connectedness between economically important production and consumption centres. 2. Inter-corridor and Feeder routes : This would ensure first-mile and lastmile connectivity. 3. National Corridor Efficiency Improvement: Through this, the greater actionable goal is to undertake lane expansion and decongestion of existing National Corridors. 4. Border and International connectivity roads : Better border road infrastructure would ensure greater manoeuvrability, while also boosting trade with neighbouring countries. 5. Coastal and Port connectivity roads: Port-led economic development is further boosted through connectivity to coastal areas, encouraging both tourism and industrial development. 6. Green-field Expressways: Expressways have higher traffic configuration and choke points would benefit from green-field expressways. Sagarmala Project The Sagarmala programme is the flagship programme of the Ministry of Shipping to promote port-led development in the country through harnessing India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes. The main vision of the Sagarmala Programme is to reduce logistics costs for EXIM and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment. Sagarmala Programme was approved by the Union Cabinet in March 2015 and a National Perspective Plan was prepared by the Ministry of Shipping which was released on 14th April 2016.