Road construction worth Rs.15 lakh crore targeted in next two years

The Minister of Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari recently announced that the Government of India has set a target of road construction of worth Rs 15 lakh crores in next two years.

What are the plans?

• In order to achieve the above target, the Government of India aims to construct forty kilometres of road per day in 2021-22.
• The GoI is permitting 100% Foreign Direct Investment in the road sector.

Background

This will help to boost the National Infrastructure Pipeline. Under the National Infrastructure Pipeline, the Union Government aims to provide world-class infrastructure to the citizens and thereby improve their quality of lives. There are 7,300 projects to be implemented under the NIP. The total cost of the project has been estimated as Rs 111 lakh crores.

Recent Developments

The GoI recently approved Rs 1,229.38 crores for the state of Punjab under the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase I. Under this project, a six-lane greenfield is to be built between Amritsar and Bathinda.

Bharatmala Pariyojana

It was launched to improve the road network in India. It aims to achieve the following:

• 9,000 kilometres of Economic corridors
• 5,000 kilometres of roads to improve connectivity
• 2,000 kilometres of roads that fall under Border Road Organisation or roads under international connectivity
• 2,000 kilometres of port connectivity roads
• Construction and maintenance of 10,000 new roads
• It will mainly focus creating Green Field Expressways for better management of freight and traffic.

As of August 2020, 12,413 kilometres of roads have been constructed. The Phase I of the project aims to construct 34, 800 kilometres of National Highways in five years. The timeline of the phase is between 2017 and 2022. The project was approved at an estimated cost of Rs 5,35,00 crores.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2021