Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said his target is to achieve 100 kilometres per day of highway construction from the present level of 40 kilometres per day.
"My target is to achieve 100 km per day of highway construction from the present level of 40 km per day in coming times," the minister said at the plenary session on 'Infra - Connectivity: To Fast Track Economy' during the CII Annual Meeting 2021.
Gadkari said the ministry also aims to develop greenfield expressways to reduce vehicular congestion on existing highways and develop logistics parks, smart cities, industrial hubs, infrastructure clusters across the green alignments.
"To reduce vehicular congestion on existing highways, we are focusing more on greenfield expressways. Across these green alignments, we want to develop logistics parks, smart cities, industrial hubs, infrastructure clusters etc," he said.
"We need the support of CII to connect us with foreign investors willing to participate in these green projects. Within three months we are going to finalize the technology for replacing toll plazas in the country, which is going to save us hundreds of crores and make travel hassle-free for the commuters," he said.
The Union Minister opined that the decision-making process and delays are the two main problems hurting the growth of infrastructure and the prime push of the government is to have a time-bound, result-oriented, transparent and corruption-free system.
He also requested the CII to give suggestions on reducing delays.
"Asset monetization is key to meet finances for our projects and we are confident that NHAI will be able to raise Rs 1.40 lakh crore per year from existing highway projects."
Laying stress on replacing diesel fuel, he requested contractors to use green fuels such as ethanol, CNG etc for construction equipment.
The Union Minister sought CII's support in reducing construction costs for highways through innovative financing models and innovative technology.
( With inputs from ANI )
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