₹10L cr investment planned to recondition highways: Nitin Gadkari
What's the story
The Indian government has announced an ambitious two-year plan to invest a whopping ₹10 lakh crore. The investment is aimed at enhancing the country's national highways, with a keen eye on upgrading infrastructure in the Northeast region.
The objective is to elevate the roads to match US standards.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari emphasized this transformative initiative during a recent interview with PTI.
Global standards
Infrastructure upgrade to match global standards
Gadkari said the government is determined to radically transform India's infrastructure in the next two years.
"We plan to take up projects worth ₹10 lakh crore in the next two years... In the coming two years, highways in the Northeast will be on a par with US roads," he said.
He also pointed out the urgent need to enhance road infrastructure there due to difficult terrain and border proximity.
Eastern projects
Major highway projects in eastern states
Gadkari also disclosed that 784 highway projects are going to be taken up in eastern states at an estimated cost of ₹3,73,484 crore. These would cover a distance of 21,355km.
The initiatives are being undertaken by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL).
Project costs
Gadkari outlines project costs in Northeast and other states
Gadkari provided details about specific projects in various states.
"We currently have projects worth ₹57,696 crore in Assam, and about ₹90,000 crore in Bihar," he said.
"We're also undertaking projects worth over ₹42,000 crore in West Bengal, about ₹53,000 crore in Jharkhand, and around ₹58,000 crore in Odisha."
He further revealed that, except for Assam, they are undertaking projects worth approximately ₹1 lakh crore this year alone.
Transport project
Nagpur's mass rapid transport pilot project
Gadkari also revealed details of a mass rapid transport pilot project that's currently being conducted in Nagpur at ₹170 crore.
It will involve a 135-seater bus running on non-polluting energy sources and will be very cost-effective.
If it proves successful, it will be replicated on important routes across the country, including the Delhi-Jaipur stretch, on the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model.
Network expansion
Expansion of national highway network
Gadkari pointed out the remarkable increase in the National Highway length. It has grown from 91,287km in March 2014 to 1,46,204km now.
He also mentioned a considerable improvement in standards; the percentage of national highways with below two lanes fell steeply from 30% to just 9% of the entire network.
In FY 2024-25, NHAI constructed 5,614km of national highways, exceeding its target of 5,150km.