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New Delhi. Union Road ( road) Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari held a press conference on Tuesday. During this, he said that in the last nine years, the total length of National Highways in the country has increased by about 59 percent. Along with this, India is second only to America in terms of road network. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that in the year 2013-14, the total length of the National Highway was 91,287 km, which has increased to 1,45,240 km in 2022-23. There has been an increase of more than 59 percent during this period.
National-Highway length now 44,654 km
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the increase in four-lane national highways has almost doubled in the last nine years. In 2013-14, this length of four-lane national-highway was 18,371 km, which has increased to 44,654 km in the last 9 years. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that there has been a significant jump in toll collection since the introduction of Fastag. He further informed that the revenue collection from toll has increased from Rs 4,700 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 41,342 crore in 2022-23. Nitin Gadkari said that the target of the government is to reach 1,30,000 crores in toll revenue collection by 2030.
Fastag has reduced waiting period at toll plazas: Nitin Gadkari
Apart from this, he said that due to Fastag, the waiting time on toll has also reduced. In the year 2014, the waiting time at the toll plaza was 734 seconds. Whereas in 2023 it has reduced to 47 seconds. We hope to reduce it to 30 seconds soon. The Union Minister said that special emphasis is being laid on the expansion of the road highway network in the North East region. He said that projects worth more than Rs 2 lakh crore are being implemented in this area. Let us tell you that 68 lakh three thousand 479 kilometers of roads have been laid in America. There is a road network of 63 lakh 72 thousand 613 kilometers in India. While China has only 51 lakh 98 thousand kilometers of road network.
Planted 3.86 crore new trees
He also said that 670 roadside amenities are being developed with the objective of providing pleasant traveling experience on National Highways. Nitin Gadkari said that in the last 9 years more than 68,000 trees were transplanted. While 3.86 crore new trees were planted. NHI has developed more than 1500 Amrit Sarovars along the National Highways across the country.
