To facilitate trade with bordering countries like Nepal and Bangladesh, India will link its major highway corridors to international trade points at a cost of ₹25,000 crore, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said.

“About 2,000 km of highways will be constructed to link major highways corridors to international trade points,” the Road Transport and Highways Minister told PTI.

He said this will be to facilitate trade with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The project is part of the Bharatmala Pariyojana, he added.

The Cabinet on October 25 had approved a mega plan to build 83,677 km of highways by March 2022 at a cost of about ₹7 lakh crore, which includes the ambitious Bharatmala project at a cost of about ₹5.35 lakh crore.

Asked about the funding for the project, Gadkari said the entire ₹5.35 lakh crore for Bharatmala has been tied up as ₹2.37 lakh crore would flow from the Central road fund, ₹2.05 lakh crore as market borrowing, ₹34,000 crore from monetisation of highway projects and ₹60,000 crore through budgetary allocation.

The Minister said there are also several other projects under implementation which aim to facilitate India’s international connectivity with neighbouring countries in South Asia and ASEAN. A pact on strengthening of road infrastructure in Terai area in Nepal had been inked in 2016, he added.

Earlier this month, Gadkari had said India has proposed a $1-billion line of credit to promote sea, air and road connectivity projects with ASEAN countries.

Apart from this, it has set up a project development fund of $77 million to develop manufacturing hubs in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

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