Govt wishes to spend Rs 5 lakh crore on highway projects in coming 2 years

In the coming two years, which would be PM Narendra Modi’s last two years in the five-year regime, the government will be awarding Rs 5 lakh crore worth of contracts for highways of about 50,000 km.

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These contracts would surpass the cumulative road length of 40,000 km that was awarded in the last five years.

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road transport and Highways, told ET that these contracts will be awarded for 44 economic corridors and 10 expressways, including the 'char dham' connectivity programme, northeast connectivity programme and the borders-linking projects.

"We have planned several projects that would be very crucial for overall development of the country. These new highways would decongest the existing roads, bringing down logistics cost by 5-6%," Gadkari said. "My ministry's vision is that a freight vehicle should move on highways without restrictions and should be able to do at least 400 km per day. It will have very positive impact on the logistics industry."

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As of now, 10 expressway projects are under various stages of implementation.

As per Gadkari, money for these projects would be raised through NHAI bonds, monetisation of highways and additional allocation in budgetary support.

(Image source Wikipedia)