Nitin Gadkari has reviewed the status of award, bidding and pre-construction activities related to five greenfield expressways and 17 access controlled greenfield national highways being executed under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I, the flagship programme of the Minister for Road Transport and Highways.

These 22 greenfield projects of 8,000 kilometres length are expected to cost Rs 3.26 lakh crore. These are envisaged as the key to improving logistics efficiency by providing seamless connectivity between centres of production and consumption of industrial and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) products in the country.

Additionally, they will help in faster movement of passenger and freight traffic in the country.

A detailed presentation on present status of award, bidding, and hindrances related to pre-construction activities especially land acquisition, environmental clearance/forest clearance was made by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to the minister, who emphasised that issues related to various state governments may be sorted out quickly and wherever required the state specific matter may be taken up at his level.

Gadkari also laid stress on timely monetisation of projects after completion as well as value capture by developing facilities for road users along the upcoming highways.

He urged that stringent monitoring of the target dates of award of projects and scheduled dates of completion be done without any compromise on the quality of work in order to develop world class highway infrastructure.

Minister of State General V K Singh (Retd) suggested that regular reviews of the progress must be done to achieve the ambitious targets set by the minister. Road Transport Secretary Giridhar Aramane, NHAI Chairman S S Sandhu, Director General (Roads) I K Pandey and other senior officials were present during the review.