Govt to construct 45 km roads per day: 2019-20 target

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Union Minister Nitin Gadkari
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

New Delhi : The government in India is set to build 45 km roads per day in the financial year 2019-20. The target was discussed in a meeting organised by the Road Transport and Highways Ministry on Tuesday.

“The ministry has also set a target of awarding 20,000 km of National Highways in 2018-2019 and aims to achieve construction target of 16,420 km,” Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told The Hindu.

“Last fiscal, an average of 26.9 km roads per day was achieved. A total of 17,055 km of National Highways were awarded and construction of 9,856 km was also achieved in 2018-2019,” he added.

Last December, in a meeting he emphasised on the huge monetary requirement for infrastructure development. Mr. Gadkari mentioned that the government aims to develop 12-15 inland waterways in the next two years with support of stakeholders. Twelve major ports with combined profit of Rs 7,000 crore were asked to supply a portion of their profit for development of waterways.

He further added that the work on 10 waterways has already started and possibly be operational by the end of 2018.

He referred waterways as the cheapest mode of transportation and said there are 111 national waterways in the country which can be used for the purpose.

Like airports, the country would soon be dotted with sea ports, he said.

"If you have to go to Patna then next time...you will not have to go to airport. Your aircraft will fly from Yamuna front and will stop at the river in Patna...such a revolutionary change is there in this," he said, adding, many years ago the trade used to happen on the river but slowly it stopped