(FE)
The Centre is planning to invest Rs 10 lakh crore over the next two years to improve highways across the country, with special focus on the northeast, where roads will rival those in the US, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said.
In an interview to PTI, he said the Centre is working to drastically transform the country’s infrastructure in the next two years so that it matches the best in the world.
“We plan to take up projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore in the next two years to strengthen highways across the country, with special emphasis on enhancing infrastructure in the northeast and the border areas. In two years, highways in the northeast will be on par with US roads,” Gadkari said.
There is an urgent need to augment the road infrastructure in the northeast, given its difficult terrain and proximity to borders, he said. “It is our endeavour to transform the country’s infrastructure drastically so that it matches with the best in the world.”
Gadkari said 784 highway projects are going to be implemented in eastern states at an estimated cost of Rs 3,73,484 crore, covering 21,355 km.
Among them are projects of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the National Highways Authority of India and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation, he said.
“We currently have projects worth Rs 57,696 crore in Assam and about Rs 90,000 crore in Bihar. We’re also undertaking projects worth over Rs 42,000 crore in West Bengal, about Rs 53,000 crore in Jharkhand, and around Rs 58,000 crore in Odisha,” Gadkari said. “In the Northeast, except Assam, we are undertaking projects worth about Rs 1 lakh crore this year itself.”
Gadkari said a mass rapid transport pilot project is underway in Nagpur at a cost of Rs 170 crore. “The project involves a 135-seater bus that will run on non-polluting energy sources and is expected to be highly cost-effective. If successful, it will be replicated on important routes across the country, including the Delhi-Jaipur stretch, under the build-operate-transfer model,” he said.
The minister said the length of the national highway network has expanded significantly, growing from 91,287 km in March 2014 to 1,46,204 km at present, with a significant improvement in standards.
