Transport ministry finalising policy for using municipal waste in road construction: Nitin Gadkari

The government is finalising a policy for the use of municipal waste in road construction, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said.

The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has already used municipal waste for the construction of a few km of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway on a pilot basis. Since it was a huge success, the Transport Ministry has decided to prepare a policy for the use of municipal waste in highway construction, Gadkari told reporters here.

Gadkari said his ministry is working on a new draft policy that will encourage construction machinery to run on alternative fuels instead of fossil fuels.

Without giving details on the timeline, he mentioned that the proposal would be submitted to the finance ministry for approval.

The minister said his ministry has taken several initiatives to decarbonise the transport sector and that the government is working on developing electric highways between Delhi and Jaipur.

Electric highways cater to electric traction for vehicles in the same manner as is done for railways. This is based on a prevalent technology in countries like Sweden and Norway.

It involves the provision of power cables, which can be utilised by a vehicle which caters to this type of technology. The vehicle will utilise the power from this cable for its traction. t present, the ministry is evaluating various technologies.

Talking about the alternate biofuels, Gadkari said by 2025, there will be a mandate to use 1 per cent sustainable aviation fuel with prospective plans to escalate it to 5 per cent blending in India.