Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSME Nitin J Gadkari on Tuesday 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.

These 22 projects of 8,000-km are expected to cost ₹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 MSME products in the country,” a Ministry statement said. Additionally, they will help in faster movement of passenger and freight traffic in the country, it said.

The Minister 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.

Timely monetisation

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

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