Chhattisgarh is on the major National Highway between Mumbai and Kolkata, and is well linked to the North and South. To improve internal connectivity, high-speed road corridors are being created and will be in place by November 2003. These will include two North-South and four East-West Road corridors, which are already under implementation. Extensive repairs and widening of highways is     under progress, and the Chief Minister has declared 2002 as the Road Year. 

Raipur is connected by regular flights with Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur and Bhubaneshwar. The runway of Raipur Airport is being extended to handle bigger aircraft, and provision will be made from now to upgrade it to an international airport. Dialogue has started with major airlines for new flights, and private airlines are interested in introducing    smaller aircraft for feeder routes. Considering the large size of the State, air taxi services have a bright future.

There are six major cities-Raipur, Bhilai, Durg, Bilaspur, Korba and Rajnandgaon. In addition, there are 20 other municipalities, including large towns like Raigarh, Jagdalpur and Ambikapur. A new Capital is planned near Raipur Airport, and the urban agglomeration of Greater Raipur including the proposed and the new capital and the existing cities of Raipur, Bhilai and Durg would have a population of over two million. The Government is paying attention to all aspects of urban infrastructure, including Urban transport, drinking water, sanitation and sewerage, solid waste management, street lighting, parks and recreation areas, leisure infrastructure, and integrated traffic flows.     

Raipur is on the main rail route between Mumbai and Kolkata. Chhattisgarh has a strong railway network of over 1300 Kms linking Eastern and Western regions. A new Rajdhani Express links Raipur to Delhi, in addition to several existing superfast trains. Freight and Container traffic is well-connected with Mumbai’s ports, which channel most of Chhattisgarh’s foreign trade. Dry Port (Container Freight Station ) 8 Km from Raipur has been set up by Central Warehousing Corporation; another dry port from CONCOR is in the pipeline. Chhattisgarh is also linked to Paradeep port on the Eastern seaboard. Freight operations in Chhattisgarh are one of the most profitable for the Railways, and Bilaspur has a full-fledged Railway Zone.

We are planning to create two integrated urban agglo- merates in the state. One is the triangle of Bhilai, Durg and Raipur. The other is the twin cities of Bilaspur and Sipat Both these clusters would be developed in an integrated manner. The crux of this approach is the development of a fast and efficient mass rapid transport system.