Srinagar : Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will lay the foundation stone for 25 National Highway projects of total length 257 km with an investment of ₹ 11,721 crores in Jammu on Wednesday.
As per an official statement released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, these projects will provide all-weather connectivity between Jammu and Kashmir valley. These are strategically important for swift movement of defence forces along with agricultural, industrial and socio-economic progress of the region, the ministry said.
It further stated that the projects will connect all major roads leading to various district headquarters and will help in the generation of employment and self-employment opportunities.
“The projects will involve Rehabilitation and upgradation of some sections, construction of Viaduct and tunnel and Rectification of black spots,” the ministry said.
The projects will also provide employment, as the proposed roads will connect all other major roads leading to various district headquarters.
A number of highways have either come up or been given the go-ahead in various parts of the country, which show the speed with which the NHAI has been working.
It further said that over the last seven years, the length of National Highways has gone up by 50 per cent from 91,287 km as of April 2014 to 1,37,625 km as on March 20, 2021.
The government is also planning to add one lakh kilometres of road network to the existing national highways in the next four years. The mega plan was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he inaugurated the Gati Shakti project in October.
The PM Gati Shakti project, which is pegged at a cost of ₹100 lakh crore, aims to set up a multi-nodal connectivity to various economic zones, a centralised portal to unite the infrastructural initiatives planned and initiated by as many as 16 central ministries and departments.
At least 5,500 kilometres of four- and six-lane highways will be constructed across the coastal belt of the country.
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