Govt to invest Rs 25 lakh cr in infra, says Gadkari

NHAI to award Rs 11,000 crore worth of projects to enhance safety on national highways

The government expects investments worth Rs 25 lakh crore in roads, railway and shipping infrastructure over three years, including setting up of 27 industrial clusters at ports at around Rs 8 lakh crore, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday.

Speaking at the same event, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Chairman Raghav Chandra said it was planning to award projects worth Rs 11,000 crore over the next few years to enhance safety on national highways in a bid to curtail road accidents.

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“The roads and highways ministry has given an in-principle approval for awarding projects worth Rs 5,000 crore every year to install safety features on highways. More than 150,000 deaths occur every year in 450,000 accidents on our roads,” Chandra said.

According to Gadkari, the government plans to spend an additional Rs 5 lakh crore on road, railway and ports connectivity projects, apart from the expenditure of Rs 8 lakh crore on 27 industrial clusters and building smart cities at ports.

The minister also announced the total award of highways projects will rise to Rs 2 lakh crore by May as compared to Rs 1.6 lakh crore at present. He added the figure would rise to Rs 5 lakh crore by May 2017. Gadkari said the pace of road construction had risen from two km (kilometre) per day in May 2014 to 20 km per day now and his ministry had ensured execution of 403 projects worth Rs 3.35 lakh crore, barring 33 projects, where work was stuck.