NewDelhi: The Indian government is looking to develop national highways that match the standards of the American highways within three years, Union Road & Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari has claimed. The announcement was made by the minister on 7 August 2021, while virtually participating in a program held to mark the completion of BJP leader Vijay Rupani’s chief ministership in Gujarat.
“Within three years, the entire country will be provided with national highways parallel to the standards of American highways”, he said in his speech.
Under Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s leadership, India’s road construction capacity has reached 38 kilometers per day, from the previous 2 kilometers a day, he claimed.
Read also: India constructed 703 km of highways using plastic waste
Gujarat has experienced being part of as many as three world records in expressway road construction; including the 2.5-kilometer cemented four-lane road on Vadodara-Mumbai expressway, that was completed within 24 hours; and a 26 kilometer stretch of Bitumen road along the Solapur-Vijapur expressway, again completed with a day, he added.
Work on the 125-kilometer expressway between Kim and Vadodara via Ankleshwar, entailing an estimated outlay of Rs. 8,500 crore, will be complete by December 2021, he went on to inform. Notably, the stretch was initially part of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway and shall pass through as many as seven districts of Gujarat, including Dahod, Panchmahals, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Valsad, as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli
According to him, the greenfield works for the 85-kilometer, eight-lane stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway near Thandla shall be awarded by October this year. Once built these expressways will give boost to the tribal areas of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and will attract new businesses and industries, besides benefitting to the farmers with easy connectivity, he concluded.
Read also: After 6 years alignment of coastal highway in Odisha finalised
Gadkari has initiated many such projects where plastic waste has been used to make world class roads sustainable for longer duration and well within the budget compared to unusual road projects.
