New Delhi: Expressing commitment to augment the country's infrastructure, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said projects for building 8,500 km of highways will be awarded by March 2022.
Reacting to the developments, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari said that the infrastructural projects announced by the Finance Minister as part of the central government will lay the foundation for 'New India' and improve the lives of its 130 crore citizens.
In a series of tweets, Gadkari pointed out that infrastructural development is very important for the overall growth of the country.
"Work is in progress on 217 projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore. With this, an investment of 5.54 lakh crores on important infrastructural sectors related to road, rail, electricity, health, education and farming - will prove to be a milestone," he said.
He also highlighted the emphasis that the Union Budget 2021 put on improving public transport infrastructure.
"After approving the second phase of Nagpur Metro to be built at a cost of Rs 5,976 crore, the foundation for the new infra project has been laid in other cities of the country," he said.
The Union Minister also touched upon a host of issues highlighted in the Budget 2021, from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to the push towards 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.
While presenting the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament, the finance minister said poll-bound West Bengal will see highway projects worth Rs 25,000 crore.
"To further augment road infrastructure, 8,500 km of road and highway projects will be awarded by March 2022," Sitharaman said in her Budget Speech.
She also announced that highway projects worth Rs 65,000 crore will be undertaken in Kerala. Besides, Rs 25,000 crore will also be spent in West Bengal, she added.
The FM also announced an allocation of Rs 3,400 crore for road projects in Assam.
She also announced an Rs 18,000-crore scheme to augment public transport in urban areas.
Last month, Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Minister Nitin Gadkari had said his ministry aims at taking road building target to 40 km a day by March. He added that the NHAI has a target to build 60,000 km of highways in the next five years, including 2,500 km of express highways.
These include 9,000 km of economic corridors and 2,000 km each of strategic border roads and coastal roads. Besides these, 100 tourist destinations and 45 towns would be connected through highways.
