15.3.17

50 Economic Corridors planned

The government will soon start work on the construction of 50 economic corridors that will include 30,000 km of highways, 35 logistics parks and 10 intermodal stations across the country at a cost of Rs.5 lakh crore, Nitin Gadkari said.

This will establish the much-needed backbone for the country's lagging transportation sector and is part of an integrated transport and logistics policy aimed at increasing the average freight speed on highways to 50 km per hour from the existing 20-25 km per hour and slashing logistics cost by almost half.

The projects will be funded through budgetary allocations, bonds issued by the National Highways Authority of India and leasing existing national highways to pension funds for the collection of tolls and operations for an upfront fee.

Gadkari said his ministry was working toward major reforms in the urban transportation sector, which had failed to meet the demand of the country's ever-growing mega cities.

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