Projects worth Rs 3 trn to be awarded by road ministry in 3 months: Gadkari

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