India will soon have one of the world’s most extensive National Highway networks through various phases of the National Highways Development Project. The projects were being financed largely through user fees from toll collection points on these improved highways, Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Sarvey Sathyanarayana said in Coimbatore on January 8.
The Minister was inaugurating the 73rd annual session of Indian Roads Congress (IRC) in Coimbatore. The country has very large road network of over 3.34 million km, comprising around 79,116 km length of National Highways, 1.30 lakh km State Highways, 3.14 millions of Major District Roads, rural and urban roads, he said.
However, maintenance and rehabilitation was one of the important areas for which availability of funds was not adequate compared to the demand, he said, adding that there was the need to work out appropriate maintenance strategies keeping in view the available budget and the required demand.
Satyanarayana voiced concern over the death of nearly 390 people on roads on each day in India (1.42 lakh deaths in five lakh road accidents in 2011), half of them between 20-65 years, saying it was imperative that Government reaches out to people to spread the message of road safety.
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