Govt investing Rs 7 lakh cr to develop green highways: Nitin Gadkari

Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced that the centre is spending Rs 7 lakh crore on creating modernised green express highways with smart transportation and reducing pollution facilities. In a virtual event organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce, Gadkari declared that the Rs 1 lakh crore Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is near completion with 8 lanes in its first phase and 12 in the second and is expected to be open within a year while Delhi-Meerut Expressway will start off in a month or two. He cited the availability of electric trucks within a year and a separate electric highway lane within the expressway. The expressways are built using advanced engineering to provide intelligent traffic along with reducing greenhouse emission, says the minister. Further, Gadkari added that the Prime Minister has a target of 111 lakh crore under the National Infrastructure Pipeline and to adopt a green approach by developing without any destruction. Gadkari stated that the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra project is expected to be open in two to three months. He also disclosed the budget of the pipeline of Rs 4,063 crore Delhi-Faridabad-Sohna express highway and Rs 4,000 crore Ahmedabad-Dholera highway. Gadkari said that the govt allots Rs 60,000 crore to Delhi to reduce its air pollution and Rs 10,000 crore for the Dwarka-Express Highway. One half of the work has been completed on the project that has a 30 km stretch, one tunnel and flyovers. Delhi's Urban Extension Road-II (EUR-II) project has also been completed. Gadkari said that the completion of the Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun project will shorten the travel time to two hours between Delhi and Dehradun. It will make the trip from Delhi to Chandigarh in 2 hours and Delhi to Haridwar in 2 hours. He also revealed that the construction of the Rs 12,000 crore Chardham project that provides all-weather connectivity to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath is coming to an end and is expected to create a hike in the tourism industry in Uttarakhand. Additionally, priority is also being given to the Raipur-Vishakhapatnam project and the Rs 10,000 crore Bengaluru Ring Road project along with the Chennai-Salem, Durg-Raipur and Surat-Ahmedabad projects. Gadkari confirmed that the ministry has completed the target for building 11,000 km of highways in FY21 and has constructed 12,205 km to date. The centre has also signed a $500 million contract with the World Bank for creating green corridors in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Gadkari also said that the government will introduce GPS-based tolling to collect tolls based on actual distance traversed by the vehicle through GPS. Image SourceAlso read: Govt sets two year road construction target worth Rs 15 lakh cr Also read: Highway Construction: NHAI sets target for 4,600 km in FY22