Punjab witnessed a major step towards world class road connectivity in all major cities as the union minister for Road Transport, Highways & Shipping Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stones of 12 major National Highways projects worth Rs 10,596.19 crore at Ropar, Samrala and Jalandhar in the state.

The road projects mainly include the four-laning of Jalandhar-Barnala, Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur, Ropar-Phagwara, Kharar-Kurali, Chandigarh-Kharar and Kharar-Ludhiana roads besides elevated road in Ludhiana city.

The projects would provide road connectivity to commuters between Doaba and Malwa along with adjoining Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in the next two years. Chandigarh would also be connected with four-lane roads with all major cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana.

Addressing the gathering at the foundation  stone  laying  ceremony at Ropar, Gadkari announced the following sanctions:

- 313 km new NH in Punjab

- Jalandhar to Ajmer for Mumbai 4/6 lane 580 km long NH worth Rs 8,000 crore, and

- Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway worth Rs 60,000 crore reducing the distance to 615 km, which at present is 732 km. It also aims to cut down the travel time to 2.5 hours, which currently takes over 7 hours.

The minister also highlighted the 22 km of roads being constructed every day in the country.

The deadline for the NHs in Punjab is set in the coming two years. The state has the highest road densities in India at 133 km per 100 sq km with total 64,500 km road network. Punjab is also amongst the well served states and has road availability above the national average of 240.10 km per 1 lakh population.