NHAI aims to build better and cost-effective roads using new tech: Minister

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is using new and advanced technologies to build better quality and cost-effective roads, claimed Union Minister of state for road transport and highways, VK Singh. He said that NHAI is giving full importance to newer technologies to build better quality roads in lesser time and cost, reports PTI. The minister also said that roads should be convenient for people to run their vehicles on it.

He said this during a knowledge-sharing session on construction technology and equipment, which was attended by officials from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar. As he further added, good roads can be built only if environmental concerns are addressed.

The minister also said that the government and NHAI have been taking various initiatives to expedite the projects to increase and improve connectivity across India. He said the vision of a self-reliant nation can only be fulfilled if it has a robust infrastructure and therefore. "We have a huge responsibility to create a sustainable highway network," Singh added. Advising the officials, Singh further said, "Don't look at a project in isolation. If in the coming days, people start feeling that road travel is better than air travel, you are successful. In the coming days, with your co-operation, we will make good roads and use good technology, and we will ensure that when somebody comes from abroad, he feels that we are a better country than theirs."

According to NHAI chairperson Alka Upadhyaya, 31 projects stretching 2,100 km with a capital investment of over ₹1 lakh crore have been executed since 2014. Most of these roads are claimed as either four-lane or six-lane highways. Also, about 50 such projects are underway at this point of time, which stretch 2,200 km and cost ₹73,000 crore, reveals the report. NHAI also has plans to develop another 1,800 km road at a cost of about ₹63,000 crore in the next three to four years, said Upadhyaya.