New Delhi : In a big push for infrastructure development, the government plans to award Rs 3 lakh crore of road projects this year as it looks to more than double highway construction to 30 km per day.
As the NDA government completes one year in office, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari says innovative funding plans are being mulled to raise over Rs 3 lakh crore.
When the Modi government took charge in May last year, pace of road construction was 2 km per day. “Today it is 12 km a day, which would go up to 14 km per day by May end. The target is to 30 km per day in two years,” he told PTI.
Gadkari is planning a 1,000-km Chaar Dhaam Yatra project to connect the four holy towns of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath with highways at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore.
The government is keen on selling 5,000 km road projects worth about Rs 1 lakh crore and a high level meeting of top bankers will be held within a fortnight in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would be present, he said.
