Nitin Gadkari: 65,000 km highways to be developed by 2022

New Delhi, Feb 7 Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday that 65,000 km of highways will be developed the nation over at a cost of over Rs 5.35 lakh crore by 2022.

Talking in Lok Sabha, the minister said the Bharatmala Pariyojana is an umbrella program containing 65,000 km of highways, out of which 24,800 km highways fall along economic corridors, inter corridors, feeder routes and border roads.

All these highways, alongside 10,000 km lingering National Highway Development Projects extends have been envisaged for development under Phase-I of the Pariyojana over a period of five years from 2017-18 to 2021-22 for which Rs 5,35,000 crore have been earmarked, he said during the Question Hour.

The minister said the mode of implementation for construction of road stretches under this plan has been arranged in such a way in order to guarantee speedy execution.

In order to achieve completion within the time-frame, the progress of projects under Bharatmala Pariyojana is checked regularly to guarantee auspicious finish of Detailed Project Report or feasibility study and civil works for the projects.

Already, 137 road projects having a total length of around 6,530 kms have been awarded and are in different phases of execution, he said.

Referring to the 'Chardham' projects connecting Hindu shrines in Uttarakhand, Gadkari said a consumption of Rs 1800 crore has been brought about till date for tasks under the program.

The first deadline of completion of the Chardham program was March 2020. Be that as it may, the program has been delayed because of case identified with woods and condition freedom in different courts (NGT and Supreme Court) and the exact date of completion of the program depends upon final outcome of the same, he said.

Gadkari also said that the quality of water of River Ganga has improved, all things considered, and work for cleaning the whole stretch of the river has been going on.