India’s road network grew 59 per cent to become the second largest in the world as the NDA government took massive road development works in the past nine years, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday.
“India’s national highway network stood at 1,45,240 km today compared to 91,287 km in 2013-14,” Gadkari said while addressing a conference on ‘9 years achievements of government’ in the national capital.
Overall India’s road network is the second largest in the world after the US, he said.
India has about 63.73 lakh km of road network, which is the second largest in the world, which includes 1,45,240 km of national highways and 1,86,908 km of state highways.
The minister said since April 2019, the NHAI has constructed more than 30,000 km of highways across the country, including major expressways like the one that connects Delhi with Meerut, or Lucknow with Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.
He also said that the revenues from tolls rose to Rs 41,342 crore from Rs 4,770 crore in 2013-14. The government aims to increase the toll revenue to Rs 1,30,000 crore by 2020, Gadkari said.
The usage of fastags has helped in reducing the waiting time at the toll plazas to 47 seconds. The government is taking various measures to reduce it further to below 30 seconds, he noted.
The minister also said that the government is working to introduce a satellite-based toll collection system where waiting time will be zero and no manual interference in the system.
The minister said that construction of highways has reached 30 km per day now and steps are being taken to increase the construction per day basis.