India's highway length slated to double: Gadkari

The length of national highways is slated to double from 95,000 km to 2,00,000 km, as part of India's infrastructural reforms, Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari said on Friday.

"The length of national highways is slated to double from 95,000 kilometres to 2,00,000 km. The initiatives are part of reforms of the government for improving existing infrastructure, creating new infrastructure and inviting investments as also various models of Public Private Partnership," said Gadkari.

He was speaking at the India Economic Summit organised by the World Economic Forum in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry.

"Some other initiatives include major access control highways to reduce congestion by 50 per cent, and Hybrid Annuity Model for attracting private investments," said Gadkari.

He also said that he specifically focused on revamping Inland Waterways of rivers like Ganga and Brahmaputra which would help not only in reducing traffic on roads but also create a sustainable and cost effective mode of transportation for major corporations and a tourist attraction.

--IANS

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