Nitin Gadkari, the minister of Road Transport and Highways, announced that the government intends to build an expressway connecting Kashmir and Kanyakumari. He said that the highway from Kashmir to Kanyakumari would be developed via an access control route while speaking at the Aaj Tak G20 Summit event. “Kashmir to Kanyakumari road was a dream for us. From Rohtang to Ladakh, four tunnels will be constructed. From Leh, we will come to Kargil and join Zojila and Z-Morh tunnels”, said the Union Minister.
The Delhi-Mumbai Highway will probably be finished by January or February of the following year, he added.
Gadkari also highlighted an audit report on the "huge funding mismanagement" of the Dwarka Expressway project while speaking at the ceremony. He mentioned that it was a "gross misrepresentation."
A political controversy recently came up over the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report that highlighted the high cost of building the Dwarka Highway.
The report states that the highway, which has a length of 29.06 km, is being built at an extravagant cost of Rs 250.77 crore per kilometre, exceeding the Rs 18.2 crore per kilometre which was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
Gadkari rejected the accusations, claiming that the highway is actually much longer, around 230 kilometres long rather than the CAG report's 29 km, as it included tunnels as well.
He added that, according to the calculation above, Rs 9.5 crore was spent every kilometre. Gadkari asserted that after explaining the situation to CAG authorities, they were "convinced" by his clarification. He claimed that despite this, they still published the report.
(Representational Image)
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