Over Five Lakh Crore Allocated for Bharatmala Project: Pres. Kovind

President Ram Nath Kovind said that Rs 5,35,000 crore has been allocated for the Bharatmala Project aimed at boosting road connectivity in the country.

"The government has approved the ambitious Bharatmala programme. About 53,000 km of national highways have been identified to increase the efficiency of the national corridor," President Mr. Rram Nath Kovind said in his address to the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.

Bharatmala is an umbrella programme of the Centre that seeks to improve the efficiency of road traffic movement in the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps.

Bharatmala Project is 5,482,000 km (3,406,000 mi) road network and is second largest in the world, of which only 2% (~110,000 km) are national highways (NHs) carrying 40% road traffic. Bharatmala phase-I will raise the NH connection to a total of 77% or 550 districts out of total 716 districts from the current 42% or 300 districts connected to NH (Dec 2017). Mapping of Shortest Route for 12,000 routes carrying 90% of India's freight, a commodity-wise survey of freight movement across 600 districts, automated traffic surveys over 1,500+ points across the country, and satellite mapping of corridors to identify upgradation requirements fort Bharatmala.