Nitin Gadkari – Indian Road Infrastructure: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday asserted that India’s road infrastructure will be better than that of the United States in the future, underlining that efficient roads, waterways and railways can reduce logistics costs and boost the economy. He also criticized consultants who prepare detailed project reports (DPR) for highways, saying that they prepare this document sitting at home.
The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways addressed the inaugural session of a two-day seminar in Bhopal on ‘Latest Trends and Emerging Technologies in Road and Bridge Construction’.
Gadkari recalled that when he was a minister in Maharashtra, he had a quote from former US president John F. Kennedy in his office: “American roads are not good because America is rich, but America is rich because American roads are good.”
The senior BJP leader said his friend Ratan Tata, who died earlier this month, had asked him several times about the quote during his visits to the minister’s office.
“In the future, Indian road infrastructure will be even better than that of the United States. We will do it,” Gadkari said. He told the seminar participants that they could achieve this change.
Sharing his experience from a helicopter survey of the Bengaluru-Chennai highway, Gadkari said he noticed three or four “big towers” hindering the alignment of the highway and was told that removing them would cost Rs 300-400 crore.
Gadkari said he told an official that the towers could have been avoided during road construction, thus saving the cost of their removal.
According to the Union minister, India has the second largest road network with 63 lakh kilometers of roads.
Gadkari sarcastically said that potholes appear on the paved roads every year and they need to be rebuilt. “This brings immense joy to some people,” he said.
“If this ‘joy’ is to end, we should introduce a layer of white concrete. There will be nothing (no damage) on the road for 25 years. I have converted the roads of my city (Nagpur) into concrete roads,” he said.
Asphalt roads are also affected if the drainage system is not good as water is dangerous for bitumen, he said.
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