PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

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INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN ROAD CONSTRUCTION NEED OF THE HOUR TO REDUCE COST AND IMPROVE QUALITY- SHRI NITIN GADKARI, UNION MINISTER FOR ROAD TRANSPORT, HIGHWAYS AND SHIPPING

SHRI GADKARI ANNOUNCES RS. 8000 CRORES WORTH OF ROAD PROJECTS IN TELANGANA STATE⁠

Hyderabad, December 17, 2016

Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping said that utilizing the innovative technologies in road construction to reduce cost and improve quality of roads is the need of the hour. While addressing at the 77th Annual Session of Indian Road Congress in Hyderabad today, Shri Gadkari said that research and International practices are must in road construction to reduce cost and improve quality of roads. He also said the top priority should be on reducing deaths due to the road accidents. The time had come to shed lethargy and come out with innovative ideas to strengthen the road sector as it plays key role in the nation’s development, he added.

Shri Gadkari informed that 40% of the total traffic is dependent on National Highways and these highways constitute only 2% of total roads in India.  Ethics, economy, ecology and environment must be the key milestones in building roads, said Shri Gadkari. He informed that he has asked premier IITs to come up with path breaking research in developing roads while protecting the environment in creating amenities centres to provide employment and Marketing opportunities for the locals, thereby bringing overall development to the regions. The strengths and weakness of the system should be identified and fixed. “The targets that the government had fixed in the roads sector would be difficult to achieve. But it is not impossible,” he said and added that the sector would have to adopt new technologies to achieve the targets.

The Minister pointed out that the road sector had improved its performance to a great extent in the past few years. When the present government took charge, 2-3km of new highways was being constructed every day. Now it had improved to 22 to 23 km a day. Along with increased performance, it was imperative to bring down road accident rate, he said. I have notices several instances of unscientific practices adopted in the construction of the highway, he said. Shri Gadkari said the government had already allowed the use of 8 per cent plastic waste in road construction. Now the authorities were thinking of using municipal waste in the construction roads in a big way. Shri Gadkari announces Rs. 8000 crore worth of road projects in Telangana state⁠.

Shri Tummala Nageshwar Rao, Telangana Minister for Roads and Buildings, Lok Sabha members Shri B.B Patil, K.Prabhakar Reddy, Shri Sunila Sharma, Principal Secretary, R&B, Telangana and S.S. Porwal, President, Shri S.S. Nahar, Secretary General of Indian Road Congress were also present on the occasion.

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