Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, laid the foundation stone for 138.5km of highways projects worth Rs 873.5 crore in the Shimoga district in Karnataka today.

Gadkari is on a two-day official tour of the state where he will lay the foundation stone for over 500km of highway projects worth over Rs 3,700 crore in the districts of Shimoga, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur and Hubli. 

Speaking at an event in Shimoga yesterday, Gadkari announced that the central government plans to invest Rs 144,922 crore in Karnataka in the next two years.

The minister informed that 6,805km of National Highways have been declared in Karnataka between 2014-2017. With this, the total length of national highways in the state has gone up to 13,565km, including 6,433km declared in principle.

Gadkari said, "While there are 105 ongoing projects of length 2,795km worth Rs 19,638 crore, another 19 projects of length 230km and costing Rs 1,676 crore will soon be awarded. 34 projects of length 4,000km and costing Rs 25,000 crore have already been tendered while DPR is being prepared for 34 more projects."