Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday announced that 25,000 km of two-lane highways across the country will be upgraded to four lanes at a cost of Rs 10 lakh crore.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, Gadkari also revealed plans to convert 16,000 km of national highways into six lanes for Rs 6 lakh crore.
"We are planning to convert 25,000 km of two-lane highways into four-lane highways at a cost of Rs 10 lakh crore. The DPRs (detailed project reports) of the projects are getting ready and we are hopeful to complete the work in two years," he said.
Gadkari asserted that the road-widening projects would bring down the number of road accidents significantly.
The minister’s remarks come days after he highlighted the severe economic and social toll of road accidents in India.
Addressing AMCHAM’s ‘Technology Interventions For Road Safety: US-India Partnership’ on Tuesday, Gadkari said the country loses 3% of its GDP annually due to five lakh road accidents, which claim 1,88,000 lives, including 10,000 children below 18 years.
He described road accidents as "one of the major public health issues" and pointed to poorly prepared DPRs as a key factor, accusing consultants of cost-cutting and a "non-serious approach."
In the Lok Sabha, Gadkari also said that the Modi government has given the highest priority to the development of highways in Jammu and Kashmir, northeastern states and hilly states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
He said road construction works worth Rs 2 lakh crore are underway in J&K, where 105 tunnels are being constructed for ease of travel.
The minister said that the government is also constructing a tunnel at Zojila, which would be the longest in Asia and to be located in a sub-zero temperature zone.
The Zojila tunnel, set to be Asia’s longest and located in a sub-zero temperature zone, is being built at a reduced cost of Rs 5,500 crore, down from an initial estimate of over Rs 12,000 crore, according to the minister.
Gadkari invited Speaker Om Birla and MPs to visit the site, calling it an "engineering marvel."
