India's Highways Infrastructure To Match US by 2024, Says Nitin Gatkari As per the minister, India is ready to witness a paradigm shift to corridor approach of infrastructure development

Union road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari has said that India's highways infrastructure will match that of the US by 2024 for which work in time bound 'mission mode' is on including construction of green expressways and rail over bridges, according to a PTI report.

"I am confident that India's highways will be on par with that of the US by 2024. Work in a time bound mission mode is on to build a robust infrastructure including a network of green expressways across the length and breadth of India," Gadkari told PTI in an interview.

According to the minister's words, in this year railway over bridges are being constructed at a cost of INR 16,000 crore which will be increased to INR 50,000 crore in five years.

Being asked on the Kailash Mansarovar highway project via Pithoragarh, Gadkari reportedly said, "Ninety three per cent work on Kailash Mansarovar project has been completed." With the completion of this project, the arduous trek through treacherous high-altitude terrain can be avoided by pilgrims of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and the period of journey will be reduced by many days. At present, travel to Kailash Mansarovar takes around two to three weeks through Sikkim or Nepal routes."

The overall network of the nation was reimagined through scientific studies including, Origin - Destination study of freight movement across 600 districts and crow-flight alignment for optimised routes to reduce transit time, the report added. Also, the minister mentioned that Bharatmala Pariyojana is India's largest infrastructure programme to develop about 35,000 km of National Highway corridors, connecting over 580 districts in the nation. The programme signalled a paradigm shift to corridor approach of infrastructure development.