Govt expedites ₹7,662-cr green highway corridors

Green National Highways Corridor Project (GNHCP) in five states has been fast-tracked and the first stretch of green highway being built under the drive in Rajasthan is expected to be commissioned by December 2021. Last year the Central government had signed an agreement for a $500 million project with the World Bank to develop the GNHCP across four states – Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

The plan is to construct five to six green and safe national highways, which have been divided into 23 stretches, as part of the corridor. The entire project is expected to be completed by the end of 2024 fiscal. The total cost of the project is estimated to be around ₹7,662 crore, of which the World Bank is contributing ₹3,500 crore. The USP of a green highway is in its construction and when compared to a normal highway, a green highway uses greener construction technologies. The green techniques that are to be adopted include the maximum use of local materials, stabilization of soils to reduce the need for crushed stone, use of waste products such as fly ash, recycling asphalt and granular pavements, bio-engineering solutions, water conservation and harvesting techniques, designing for resilience to climate change impacts, and solar lightings. The GNHCP is being overseen directly by the ministry and the World Bank and neither NHAI nor any state PWD is involved in the execution of this project.