New Delhi, 15 July
A day ahead of the inauguration of the Bundelkhand Expressway by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, government sources on Friday said the length of national highways has increased by more than 50 per cent in seven years.
While the total length of national highways was 91,287 km in April 2014, it was around 1,41,000 km by the end of 2021. The BJP government came to power at the Center in May 2014.
Sources said that the speed of construction of national highways has increased from 12 km per day to 37 km per day in 2020-21.
He said that the Modi government has focused a lot on connectivity and infrastructure since the beginning of its tenure.
This focus on connectivity can be gauged from the budgetary allocation of Rs 1.99 lakh crore to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in the Budget for 2022-23.
This is the highest ever, he said, noting that it is several times higher than the allocation of around Rs 30,300 crore in 2013-14.
Modi will visit Uttar Pradesh on Saturday and inaugurate the Bundelkhand Expressway – a 296-km long four-lane expressway built at a cost of around Rs 14,850 crore.
The work of the expressway has been completed in 28 months.