New Delhi: Construction of Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway will be started by the government soon, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today. As part of the ‘Accelerated Development of Highways’ mission, the government will start development of 2,500 kilometers access controlled highways, 9,000 kilometers of economic corridors, 2,000 kilometers of coastal and land port roads and 2,000 kilometers of strategic highways. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and two other expressway packages would be completed by 2023.
While presenting Budget 2020-21, the Minister also said at least 12 highway bundles of over 6,000 kilometers by 2024.
As regards Inland Waterways, Sitharaman also announced that the ‘Jal Vikas Marg’ on National Waterway-1 will be completed. The 890 kilometer Dhubri-Sadiya connectivity will also be completed by 2022.
She also hoped that the size of fleet of aircraft in the country would double from the present 600 to about 1,200 by 2024.