NHAI eyes foreign funds for ₹10-lakh-cr green e-ways

The National Highways Authority of India together with the Central government has decided to generate foreign funds for construction of 22 green expressways across the country at an estimated cost of ₹10 lakh crores. NHAI has requested a generous hike in the highways budget to which the finance ministry has responded positively, said a senior official of NHAI. He informed that Union Transport Ministry Nitin Gadkari recently invited some Singaporean companies to invest in these highway projects and is also look at setting up logistics and industrial parks near them. The government is planning road shows in Singapore, Dubai and Europe to attract companies for the ambitious project. Conceptualized by Gadkari in 2016, the green expressway project will have eco-friendly features like solar powered lighting, rainwater harvesting, intelligent traffic management, and an extensive green cover. The 135-km East Peripheral Expressway (also known as Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) Expressway) is India‘s first smart and green highway with solar powered lighting along the entire stretch.