As part of the Union Budget 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that the government is planning to monetize 12 highways before 2024 which span a distance of 6,000 km, using the FASTag mechanism.
The minister said, “FASTag mechanism encourages us towards greater commercialisation of our highways so that NHAI can raise more resources.”
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced that the government has allotted Rs 1.7 Lakh Crore for the development of Transport Infrastructure in India. She said that the focus of the government is to expedite highway and expressway development projects. The much talked about new Delhi-Mumbai 1200 km highway corridor will be built by 2023.
Last year, while presenting the Interim Budget, Piyush Goyal said that India is the fastest developer of highways in the world, constructing highways at a speed of 27 kilometres per day. Goyal also said that along with the focus on the highways, the government is also focusing on building rural roads and has allocated Rs 19000 Crore for building rural roads for FY 2020.
Union Minister of Road Transportation, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari earlier said that major policy initiatives, coupled with expeditious land acquisition resulted in highest ever award of 51,073 km of highways and construction of 28,531 km over the last four years. Gadkari is confident to take the road building pace to 40 km a day by the next year from 28 km a day. The Minister had earlier said that the government is looking at raising Rs 1 lakh crore per annum in the next five years. The toll collection revenue, as of now, stands at Rs 30,000 crore per annum.
(With inputs from PTI)
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