The Centre is planning to invest Rs 10 lakh crore over the next two years to strengthen 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.He said the Centre is working to transform the country’s infrastructure drastically 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 the coming two years, highways in the Northeast will be on a 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,” he said, maintaining that works are underway in all states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Gadkari said 784 highway projects are going to be implemented in the 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 (NHAI), and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL), he said.