Government to award road projects worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore in 6 months

With a leap of 400 per cent in construction of highways in the last one year, the government has set an ambitious target of awarding highway projects worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore in next six months.

Minister of road transport, highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari said in the national capital on Thursday that construction of highways has gone up to 13 km per day from 3 km per day during the last leg of the previous government, and during this period most of the Rs 3.8 -lakh crore worth of projects stuck during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime have been rolled out.

"Infrastructure plays a pivotal role in bolstering the economy. Finance minister Arun Jaitley has requested us to jack up the target and hence we have set a target to award Minister of road transport, highways and shipping 3.5 lakh crore worth of highway projects in next six months. It is a difficult work but we will try to accomplish it," Gadkari said.

"The highway sector was facing a crisis of confidence and all the stakeholders were in complete disarray when we took over ... But now investor confidence has been revived. PPP (public-private-partnership) is picking up, private sector is evincing interest and there is a major turnaround."

The minister further said that 1,231 projects for 37,000 km are on the anvil while road building target has paced up.

"I set for myself a target of highway construction of 30 km per day within two years. We have already taken a leap of 400 per cent from 3 km per day during last leg of the UPA regime to 13 km per day now," the minister added.

Moreover, the government has also planned to cut on huge Rs 8 lakh crore fuel import bills by promoting bio-diesel and ethanol.

"There are plans to convert diesel buses into electric vehicles to minimise pollution. These will be used as school buses...petrol and diesel auto rickshaws will also be converted into electric autorickshaws," Gadkari added.

The minister informed that things are also looking up on PPP (public-private-partnership) as a large number of bidders have lined up for Solapur-Bijapur, Shivpuri-Devas, Raipur-Bilaspur, Hospet-Chitradurg and Delhi-Mukarma highways while Larsen & Toubro has bid below 20 per of the estimated cost for Reva-Jabalpur road.

"Given the huge projects in road, transport, highways and shipping sectors, I am confident that in two years time we will be able to create 25 lakh new jobs," Gadkari said adding that the concerned ministries have entered into a pact with the ministry of skill development for it.

Besides, the ministry is planning to provide better connectivity to places of religious importance whether it is Shriram Circuit, Buddha Circuit or Ajmer Sharif, he said and added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off during Dussehra the 1,100 km Chardham project worth Rs 11,000 crore to connect the Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath.

"We will also build 5,000 km of road network all along the borders and coastal areas under Bharat Mala at a cost of Rs 55,000 crore," Gadkari said.

On funding of projects, the minister said that the government is keen on selling 5,000 km of road projects worth about Rs 1 lakh crore, which it completed on engineering, procurement and construction mode.