20km of new roads being built every day in India

The latest update on the roads and infrastructure front is that around 20 kilometres of new roads are being built every day.

This was stated by the Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, who inaugurated the Manesar-Palwal section of the Kundli- Manesar-Palwal Expressway, yesterday.

Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari said that the project had earlier been languishing for several years. However, the Centre and the Haryana Government resolved the issues plaguing it and the 52.33km long section of the expressway has been completed in a record time of 11 months.

He said that Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways are targeted for completion within 400 days from the start of the project. Once the two peripheral expressways are ready, traffic congestion in Delhi will come down by 50 percent, pollution levels will be reduced and the farmers, traders and the people of the region as a whole will benefit due to better connectivity. Gadkari  said, “Road building activity has caught speed and today we are building about 20km of roads per day.” 

The Manesar-Palwal section of the Expressway has been built at a cost of Rs 457.81 crore. It is an access controlled, six-lane, divided road with 1.5 metre wide paved shoulder on each side. It intersects with Delhi-Jaipur NH8 near Manesar, Palwal-Sohna-Rewari NH 919, Sohna-Nuh-Alwar Road NH 248A and finally joins NH2 near Palwal.

The road will provide uninterrupted high-speed link for traffic, especially commercial traffic from Haryana to neighbouring states. It will also decongest road traffic through Delhi by allowing bypass of traffic not destined for Delhi. Road side amenities are under development. The road also has several underpasses, cattle crossing underpasses, agricultural vehicle underpasses bridges, pedestrian crossing underpasses and box culverts.