Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, stated that until three years ago, the country only had 96,000km of national highways. He added that this figure now stands at nearly 1,70,000km, and is touted to reach an overall length of 2,00,000km
In 2013-14, the country had an estimated 91,287km, which grew to 97,991km in 2014-15, 1,01,010km in 2015-16 and 1,14,158km in 2016-17. From this period, up to end-October, another 56,000-odd km have been constructed according to the government.
Gadkari reiterated this government commitment to providing world-class transport and logistics infrastructure in the country within two years. He added that 44 Economic Corridors and 24 Multi-Modal Logistics Parks have been planned under the government’s flagship programme Bharatmala.
The Multi Modal Logistics Parks will function as centres for freight aggregation with warehousing, cold storage and other such facilities available. They will be built outside cities on the highway, to reduce traffic congestion and pollution. Work on logistics parks in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Surat and Guwahati have already commenced.
