Center planning < Rs 1 billion investment to re-wire highways; Northeast roads will be comparable to those of the United States: Gardkari

Archives road transport and archive pictures of Nitin Gadkari. |Picture source: ANI

The center plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore in the next two years to strengthen highways across the country, with special focus on the Northeast, and roads will be linked to U.S. road transport and highway minister Nitin Gadkari.

During the interview ptihe said the center is working to completely transform the country’s infrastructure in the next two years to match it with the best in the world.

“We plan to adopt a project worth Rs 1 million in the next two years to strengthen highways across the country, with a particular focus on strengthening infrastructure in the Northeast and border areas. In the next two years, the Northeast Highway will be comparable to the U.S. highway,” Gardkari said. ”

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He said there was an urgent need to increase the Northeast road infrastructure, given its tough terrain and proximity to the border.

“Our efforts are to dramatically change the country’s infrastructure so that it matches the best in the world,” he said, insisting that including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Gujarat, Andra Padsh, Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Delhi.

Mr Gardkari said the eastern state will implement 784 highway projects with an estimated cost of Rs 373.484 crore, covering 21,355 km.

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He said that this includes projects from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the National Highway Administration of India (NHAI) and the National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).

“Currently, we currently have projects worth Rs 57,696 crore in Assam and around Rs 9,000 crore in Bihar. We are also working on projects worth over Rs 42,000 crore in West Bengal, around Rs 53 crore in Jharkhand, around Rs 58,000 crore in Odisha, about Rs 58,000 crore in.”

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“In the northeast, except for Assam, we are working on the project itself worth about Rs 10,000,” he said.

Mr Gadkari said a large-scale rapid transport pilot project is underway in Nagpur at a cost of Rs 1.7 crore.

“The project involves a 135-seat bus that will operate with non-polluting energy and is expected to be highly cost-effective. If successful, it will be replicated on important routes across the country, including the Delhi-Jaipur extension and under the Building Open Transfer (Bot) model,” he said.

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The minister said the length of the national highway network has been greatly expanded, from 91,287 km in March 2014 to 1,46,204 km at present, with a significant improvement in standards.

He said the proportion of national highways below two lanes has dropped sharply – from 30% of the total network to 9%.

In 2024-25, NHAI built 5,614 km of national highways, exceeding the 5,150 km target.