By the end of 2024, the roads in Uttarakhand would resemble those in the United States thanks to a Rs 2 lakh crore investment from the Central government, announced Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday.
Gadkari was addressing Tanakpur on the occasion of national highway projects that will cost more than Rs 2,000 crore. “Rs 1.40 crore is being spent in Uttarakhand over road infrastructure at present to which an additional Rs 60 crore will soon be added to make it a total expenditure of Rs 2 lakh crore,” Gadkari “I want to declare in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami that Uttarakhand‘s national roads would meet international standards by the end of 2024. They’ll resemble those in the United States,” he said.
According to Gadkari, Uttarakhand currently has 3,608 km of national roads, up from 2,517 km in 2014.
The chief minister, meanwhile, praised Gadkari for taking the initiative to make the long-awaited projects feasible, saying that the foundation stone was placed in Tanakpur on Tuesday.
“He is always willing to provide Uttarakhand with whatever assistance needed for its growth. We obtain our desires even before we make requests,” Dhami said.
stated.
The initiatives will significantly improve connectivity throughout the Manaskhand region.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman boosted the funding to the Road Transport Ministry from ₹1.99 lakh crore in FY 2022–2023 to ₹2.7 lakh crore in the Union Budget 2023, a 36% increase, to strengthen the road infrastructure.
The Road Ministry’s funding was somewhat increased in Budget 2024 to ₹2.78 lakh crore. Approximately ₹1.68 lakh billion of the budget would go toward funding NHAI’s national highway corridor construction initiative under the Bharatmala Pariyojana.
The budgeted allocation for the NHAI was increased by 14.7% for FY 2023–24 to ₹1.62 lakh crore, compared to revised expectations of more than ₹1.41 lakh crore for FY23.
With an agreed expenditure of ₹5.35 lakh crore, the government intends to create 34,800 km of national highway corridor as part of the initiative.
There will be built inter-corridors, feeder routes connecting agricultural centers and outlying locations to the main network, and economic corridors. The proposal also aims to enhance the current, heavily used North-South and East-West as well as the Golden Quadrilateral pathways.
The agenda has also included boosting commerce with neighboring nations and fortifying key border links.
