NEW DELHI: The Government today approved a mega plan to build 83,677 km of highways over the next five years at a cost of about Rs 7 lakh crore which includes the ambitious Bharatmala project, the biggest ever after NHDP.
The Rs 6.92 lakh crore highway projects, approved by the Union Cabinet, will generate 14.2 crore mandays of jobs and also include Bharatmala project, an umbrella programme for roads under which 34,800 km of highways will be constructed at a cost of Rs 5.35 lakh crore, the Government said.
The announcement comes barely few months after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told PTI that an umbrella programme for roads – Bharatmala – will hit the ground soon subsuming all existing highway projects, including the flagship National Highways Development Project (NHDP).
Terming Bharatmala as “connecting India like never before”, the PMO said the Rs 5.35 lakh km project will include 9,000 km of economic corridors to unlock full economic potential, 6,000 km of inter-corridor and feeder routes, 5,000 km of national corridors efficiency improvement, 2,000 km of border road connectivity, 800 km of expressways and 10,000 km of balance NHDP projects.
Addressing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Government has consistently increased public expenditure on infrastructure in order to boost employment and provide renewed impetus to economic growth. (AGENCIES)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
