Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India Nitin Gadkari is of the clear view that the government is supporting infrastructure development in the country. He said, “When I had taken charge as minister in 2014, the budget was of Rs 30,000 crore and today it has come to approximately Rs 92,000 crore. It is three times more.”

This indication and this support is very important. At the same time we are raising fund from the capital markets. So we don’t have any fund problem, he said. "We will use this money for land acquisition and other things and we will accelerate the road process. This year we are going to complete our target of 40 kilometre per day,” he added.

“We are now receiving a lot of funds, lot of people - stakeholders from abroad, insurance funds, pension funds, banks – all are ready to invest in NHAI, it has a good credibility in the market," he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18 post the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2020.

"Our toll income before FASTag was Rs 68 crore per day. Presently, FASTag contributes 73-74 percent to toll income and our income is Rs 90 crore now. We aim to increase our income by Rs 10,000 crore in a year. My target is within five years to reach Rs 1 lakh crore per year. On the basis of that we will raise the money from the market,” said Gadkari.

On the pace of road construction, he further mentioned, “Things are moving fast. After election everything is improving.”

First Published:Feb 1, 2020 6:24 PM IST