Rs 3 Lakh Crore Road Projects in 3 Months: Gadkari

New Delhi, Aug 1 (PTI) Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said his ministry will award road contracts worth Rs 3 lakh crore within three months and close the current financial year with contracts worth Rs 5 lakh crore.

Addressing an event here, Gadkari said because of the Lok Sabha elections and the model code of conduct, the speed of awarding road projects was slow in the initial months of the current financial year.

"I assure you, within three months, we will finalise the (road) contracts more than Rs 3 lakh crore, and our target is to award over Rs 5 lakh crore of (road) contracts by March 2025," he said.

Gadkari noted that the road ministry has a lot of road projects in the pipeline, and raising funds for the projects will not be a problem, as NHAI has a very good reputation in the capital market.

The minister said NHAI's present toll income is Rs 45,000 crore and in the next two years, it will go up to Rs 1.4 lakh crore.

"We are monetising the road assets by which we are getting the money. So, there is no problem about the resources,” Gadkari said.

NHAI has, so far, awarded three projects of 47.04 km in the current financial year till date, while the total length awarded by the ministry till June stands at 95 km.

Gadkari said he is aware that the construction equipment industry is facing problems regarding customs duty and other things.

"We are considering all your issues and will support you to increase your productivity and your export because this is the industry, which is giving maximum GST to the state, contributing to exports and has immense employment potential," he said.

Talking about the automobile industry, Gadkari said the size of India's automobile industry is now Rs 19 lakh crore against China's automobile industry's Rs 44 lakh crore.

"We need to compete with China, as we want to make India's automobile industry number 2 after the USA," he said.

Gadkari noted that to create employment potential in the country is a big problem for the government.

"Because of your (construction equipment manufacturers' ) export, by increasing your capacity, you are going to create more jobs and that is to be very important," he said.