Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said all new highway projects supported by National Highway Authority of India will use cement concrete.

Addressing mediapersons, Gadkari said that the current rate of cement per bag is about ₹350 but his Ministry has zeroed in on a supplier who can sell a bag at ₹120 per (excluding taxes and transport). The Maharashtra Government and local municipal bodies have also been advised to use the cheaper cement, he said.

Gadkari said that the planned target of increasing the speed of highway construction to 30 km per day will be achieved within 18 months as work on 95 per cent of 190 road projects, which were stuck for some reasons, have now restarted, he said.

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has fast-tracked 71 road projects since taking over the Ministry, he said.

Gadkari added that the Mumbai-Goa National Highway (NH-17) would be soon converted into a four-lane concrete road. Work has commenced but there are problems relating to land acquisition, Maharashtra Government’s intervention has been sought in the matter. In future, no highway work will commence unless 80 per cent of the land acquisition is over, he said. He added that Karnala Bird Sanctuary stretch near Panvel along the NH-17, an NGO had moved the court seeking a stay on the highway work citing environmental concerns but soon a solution would be found.

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