Indian Government working on Delhi-Mumbai electric highway: Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, on Saturday, said that the government is working on an electric highway from Delhi to Mumbai.

“It will be a 1300 Km, 12-lane green highway. We have already awarded 60 per cent of the contracts. This will be at a cost of Rs one lakh, 3000 crore and our target is to complete before January 26, 2024,” Gadkari said on the sidelines of the TVS iQube Electric scooter.

“This highway will become historical and will pass through economically backward areas of Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat. We will save Rs 16,000 crore on land acquisition.

“We are thinking of making it an e-highway and we are discussing with companies who have the technology in Germany, USA, Sweden about electric double decker bus and electric truck,” he added.

He expressed thanks to TVS for its initiative to come out with an ethanol motorbike. “We know the problem of the sugar industry in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. The government has already taken a decision to give priority for the manufacturing of ethanol,” he said.

“In Nagpur, we have started making methane from sewage water and we are running 100 buses from that and next month we are going to make 400 buses run on bio CNG,” he added.

Gadkari also said that the government is mulling more measures to encourage the electric vehicles. “Pollution is a big concern and this is an era where we are using electricity as fuel. Therefore, we are thinking a policy to have charging stations for cars and buses on highways near petrol stations,” he said.