Highway building through PPP mode set to take a leap next year: Nitin Gadkari

New Delhi: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that highway building through public-private-partnership (PPP) mode is set to take a leap with government planning to launch 100 such projects next year. 

Speaking at an event in New Delhi Tuesday, Mr Gadkari said, all problems pertaining to the mode have been addressed, and this year, seven projects worth 11,500 crore rupees have already been awarded in contrast to nil last year. He said, the government was planning to float tenders for about 18 projects by



December.

Expressing commitment to transform the highways network, the Minister said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would do bhoomi pujan for access-controlled 7,000 crore rupees eastern highway project to de-congest Delhi soon. He said, Delhi-Meerut highway would be developed as a green expressway with 14 lanes on NH-24.

Mr Gadkari said, the national highways length would be increased to 1.5 lakh kms from the present 1 lakh kms as it does not match up to the 10 per cent annual growth in vehicles.