Thirty-six national highway projects, entailing an expenditure of Rs11,830 crore are under construction in Gujarat, union minister of state for road construction and highways, Mansukh Mandaviya said on Wednesday.
Mandaviya was speaking with reporters after reviewing the progress of highway projects in the state with National Highways Authority of India and state government officials.
The minister said that the total length of national highways in Gujarat is 5,145 km, of which 1,093 km has been added since April 2014, i.e. after the Narendra Modi led government came to power.
"Thirty-six national highway projects involving an expenditure of Rs11,830, crore are in progress at present. Additionally, highway projects of almost Rs23,000 crore are in the pipeline and will be approved within three months," he said.
Mandaviya, who is from Gujarat, said that highway construction has been one of the focus areas of the Narendra Modi government. "From 1947 to 2014, national highways of 92,000 km were constructed. In the last three years alone, over 40,000 km roads have been declared national highways. Between 2011 and 2014, highways of 15,000 km were built, which has gone up to 18,740 km in last three years," he said.
The minister also said that as against 11 km under the UPA government, highway construction had touched an average of 28 km per day under the NDA government.
Mandaviya, whose Rajya Sabha term is slated to end in April, said that 35,000 roads are proposed to be built at a cost of Rs5.35 lakh crore under the Bhararmala project. Of this, 5,751 km of highways and seven logistics parks would come up in Gujarat with an investment of Rs1.02 lakh crore, he added.
