Gujarat to get Rs 2 lakh crore for infrastructure development: Nitin Gadkari

Centre will allocate Rs 2 lakh crore to Gujarat for the development of roads and ports during the next three years, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.

He made the announcement at the foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of the 256-Km long four-lane national highway connecting pilgrimage town of Somnath with Bhavnagar, at Somnath town in Gir-Somnath district.

Notably, Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is going to polls next year.

The project has been undertaken by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and expected to complete in two years at the cost of Rs 4,876 crore.

Allocation of Rs 2,00,000 crore will be made for the development of roads and ports for the next three years in Gujarat, an official release quoted the Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping as saying.

On the occasion, Gadkari stated that a proposal to convert seven roads, with the cumulative length of 675 kms, into national highways is currently under consideration by the Centre government.

He also announced the construction of a bridge between Okha and Bet-Dwarka in Devbhoomi Dwarka district at the cost of Rs 490 crore, the release stated.

The minister said that works related to 210 km-long coastal highway connecting Somnath, Porbandar and Dwarka would commence from August this year.

The road connecting Dholera SIR and Ahmedabad will be converted into a six-lane highway, he said.

Gadkari was accompanied by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and several other dignitaries.