Hubballi, Feb 10 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday evening unveiled various development projects in the twin cities of Hubballi and Dharwad.

Arriving from Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur in a special IAF aircraft, Modi was received at the Hubballi airport by state Revenue Minister R.V. Deshpande, officials and state Bharatiya Janata Party unit leaders.

Soon after reaching the venue at KLE Institutions in the city's outskirts, Modi first remotely laid the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Dharwad) campus and the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT).

He then dedicated to the nation the city distribution project at Dharwad and 1.5 million tonne Mangaluru and the 2.5 million tonne Padur strategic petroleum reserve facility (SPR) facility of the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL).

The Prime Minister also dedicated the doubling of 18-km-long Chikjajur-Mayakonda section railway line for passenger and freight services, and initiated the electrification work of the 346-km-long Hospeta-Hubballi-Vasco da Gama line in this region.

The doubling will increase capacity of this vital route connecting Bengaluru to Mumbai via Hubballi, Belagavi, Goa and Pune.

The electrification of the broad gauge will reduce travel time and emission of greenhouse gases with lower diesel consumption.

Modi also witnessed the e-griha pravesh (house-warming) of 2,384 houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana at Dharwad.

Besides Deshpande, Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, BJP's state unit leaders B.S. Yeddyurappa, Jagdish Shettar, Prahlad Joshi and Muralidhar Rai were present on the dais at the public function.

Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murthy, who hails from Hubballi, was also present.