In a significant development, nearly 200 reputed engineering colleges located across the country have opted for the scheme to adopt stretches of National Highways.

In the months to come, India can undoubtedly pick a few lessons from China and with appropriate improvisations lead the way to making policy changes that bring in a radical change in the ease of doing business as well as supplying its domestic needs and international demands. By DR. POORNIMA ADVANI

The construction arm of Indian engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) to services multinational, Larsen & Toubro has secured a large contract to construct the country’s longest road bridge across River Brahmaputra.

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways & Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSME), Nitin Gadkari has urged the country’s construction sector to devise ways to keep costs of government projects low even while leveraging the latest digitalisation technologies.

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways & Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Nitin Gadkari virtually laid the foundation stones of nine national highway projects with a total length of nearly 262 km worth over Rs 27.52 billion in Tripura on Tuesday.

A total of 322 projects with a length of 12,413 km has been awarded under the Bharatmala Pariyojana till August 2020. Further, 2,921 km has been constructed under the project till the same month, an official Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) release has said.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has enhanced the allocation of funds for expenditure under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North Eastern Areas (SARDP-NE) related works during FY2020-21, the ministry has said in an official release.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has awarded projects for a total cumulative length of 1,330 km in the current financial year. The projects awarded so far are 1.6 times higher of 828 km awarded in FY 2019-20 and 3.5 times higher of 373 km awarded in FY 2018-19 during the same period.

In a bid to further improve the ease of doing business, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has acceded to most of the suggestions made by the industry body, Consulting Engineers Association of India (CEAI).