New Delhi: Shri Nitin Gadkari, the union minister for Road Transport & Highways addressed the 16th Annual Conference on “Road Development in India” by stating that from now on CNG, LNG and ethanol should be used for the road equipment machinery instead of steel and cement, to enhance the road quality through innovation and research. During the conference, import-substitution, cost-effective, pollution-free, and indigenous methods, and development of alternative fuel were the main focus area.

About 63 lakh km of the road network is the second largest road network in the world and the road infrastructure plays a critical role in the growth of the economy as 70 percent of the goods and nearly 90 percent of passenger traffic uses roads to commute. Gadkari aims to construct a 60,000 km world-class national highway at the rate of 40 km per day.

The government is currently investing 1.4 trillion dollars i.e. Rs 111 lakh crores for infrastructure development through the national infrastructure pipeline, further this year, the Government has increased year-on-year infrastructure CAPEX by 34 percent to Rs. 5.54 lakh crores and have set a goal to make India reach a 5 trillion-dollar economy in the next five years. Shri Gadkari adds that the increased investment in infrastructure would help create employment during the ongoing pandemic.