NHAI forms JV for 264 km green highways

In order to build clean and green national highways, NHAI has recently partnered with the ITC for developing green highways and to start with the partners, will develop a project for plantation, focused on productive as well as conservation attributes on the available stretches of NHs located in Andhra Pradesh, said official sources, adding that two stretches have already been identified for the first with a total NH length of about 264 kilometers. The first stretch on NH-40 from Kurnool to Kadappa is of 114 kilometer, with an estimated planting area of 100 hectares, while the second stretch on NH-44 from Hyderabad to Bengaluru is of 149 km, with an estimated area of another 100 hectares. Commenting on the development, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC's Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division, Sanjay Singh, said that the company is delighted to collaborate with the NHAI for this landmark initiative as this collaboration will significantly augment the country's green cover, besides creating sustainable livelihoods for rural and marginalized masses of the area.