The government is spending Seven lakh crore on building green express highways through modern technology which sequentially would provide smart transportation and cut pollution, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.
Out of these, Rs one lakh Cr Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is expected to be completed within a year while Delhi-Meerut Expressway will be inaugurated in a month or two, the Road Transport and Highways Minister said while addressing a virtual event organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce here.
"We are spending Rs 7 lakh Cr on building green express highways. These...will reduce air pollution, traffic jam and minimize logistics and transportation cost," he said at the National Roads & Highways Summit "Focus on Green Infrastructure".
He said these are being built with the state-of-the-art technology with advanced engineering to provide intelligent traffic while taking care of ecology and environment conservation with an aim to reduce greenhouse emissions.
The Prime Minister has set a target of Rs 111 lakh Cr under the National Infrastructure Pipeline and it would be the government's effort to adopt a green approach and "development without destruction," the minister said.
Of the 22 green highway corridors, Delhi-Mumbai Expressway on a new alignment would reduce the travel time between both the metropolises to 12 hours by car in comparison to 40 hours at present, he said.
Asserting that toll income was likely to reach Rs 1,34,000-Cr in the next 3-4 years, he said Rs 10,000 Cr was lost due to COVID-19 but by March-end, toll collection was likely to reach Rs 31,000 Cr. He said as part of automation, GPS-based tolling is being planned where toll collection will be done based on actual distance traversed by the vehicle through GPS.
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