The National Highways network will rise to a total of two lakh kms by the year 2024 from the present 1.4 lakh kms, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH ) has said.
Inaugurating the 3rd edition of Roads and Highways Summit - Accelerating the Road Infrastructure: New India @75, organised by FICCI, Gadkari said the implementation of the Bharatmala project and green highways in the coming years is set to reduce logistics costs by 3% of the national GDP. “India has got huge potential in infrastructure and there is huge potential for road construction, river connectivity, solid and liquid waste management, parking plaza, irrigation, bus ports, ropeways and cable car projects,” he said.
Advocating the need to use technology, research, innovation and successful practices from across the world and from within India, the Minister highlighted that his Ministry is working on 26 Green Express Highways and logistics parks worth over INR 2lakh crore.
Pitching his idea of using greener alternatives in road construction, the Minister said, “The infrastructure construction industry should find alternatives to cement and other raw materials. Glass fibre steel can be used in place of steel. If there is competition, the cost will come down and become reasonable.”
Citing examples of Mumbai - Pune Expressway and Worli Bandra Sealink to illustrate leveraging capital markets for public infrastructure projects, Gadkari also noted that the idea is to take money from poor people and provide them with a 7% to 8% monthly return on their money. The Ministry will soon start selling shares of a maximum of INR 10 lakh to one person.
He said, “The Government will soon list InvITs on the stock market so that retail investors can trade units (of InvITs), offering an opportunity to common citizens to invest in the infrastructure projects”.
Currently, 37 km of National Highways are being constructed per day, but reaching the target of 100 km per day will be a big challenge for the construction industry due to a shortage of natural raw materials and resources.