NEW DELHI: While inaugurating Tedhi Pulia flyover, and laying the foundation stone for the Khuram Nagar flyover in Lucknow on Friday, April2, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of road transport and highways, Government of India, said that India currently holds the world record for fastest road construction. He informed that India has made three world records in March, including record for fastest road construction. India made it to Guinness World Records for building a 2.5 km four-lane concrete road within 24 hours, and has also built a one-lane 25-km bitumen Solapur-Bijapur road within 24 hours.
Gadkari said that the government is aiming to build infrastructure worth Rs 111 lakh crore in the next five years, for the politics of the 21st century is that of progress. He mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has resolved to make an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ with $5 trillion economy, and that all of this is part of that resolution. A statement from MoRTH said that the construction of national highways had touched a record 37 km per day in the year 2020-21, which is unprecedented. He lauded the teamwork of officials and other stakeholders, saying that without their dedication and work it would not have been possible for India to have the length of National Highways augmented by 50 per cent from 91,287 km as of April 2014 to 1,37,625 km as on March 20, 2021.