Himalayan News Service

New Delhi, July 21:

India is planning to spend Rs 1.72 trillion Indian Currency (IC) ($39.5 billion) to develop 30,000 km of national highways over the next seven years, minister for shipping, road transport and highways TR Baalu said today. This would be apart from the upgrading of another 14,000 km of highways already underway. “The government plans to spend about Rs 1.72 trillion IC in the next seven years for a well-planned phase-by-phase development of national highways,” Baalu said while launching a vehicle tracking pilot project to be executed on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. The project would help motor vehicle owners and drivers to track their vehicles in case of any delay or breakdown.

“Not content with the earlier development programme covering only 14,000 km out of the total national highways network of 65,569 km, our government has decided to give a big boost

to the development of national highways,” the minister said. The government has already approved the upgrading of 4,000 km of national highways on a ‘build-operate-transfer’ (BOT) basis under the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) Phase-IIIA. It has given its nod to the preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs) for another 6,000 km under NHDP

Phase-IIIB. Under the new proposed scheme, the government is planning to rehabilitate 20,000 km of the existing two-lane sections across various parts of the country under NHDP-IV. The minister disclosed that the Committee of Infrastructure was considering making 5,000 km of national highways.