Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday that the roads sector will create around 50 lakh jobs in the next three years in the country. During the time, the ministry is hopeful it would complete the work of awarding road contracts worth Rs five lakh crore.
Citing a World Bank report, Gadkari said Rs one crore investment in roads creates jobs for about 800 people. The minister was confident that through his ministry he would provide jobs for 50 lakh people and contribute 2% to the GDP, The Economic Times reported.
"We have already awarded road contracts worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore. The 50 lakh jobs would give a boost to the steel and cement industry as well," Gadkari was quoted as saying by the publication.
India's road length at present is 96,000 km. The transport minister has set up a target of increasing the road length to 1.5 lakh km. He is also hopeful that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will increase the allocation to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in the upcoming budget in February end.
"It doesn't come under my ministry but I'm still convincing the prime minister and finance minister that this scheme needs more money," he added.
In the current approach, Gadkari was positive that his ministry would be able to clear pending projects worth Rs 25,000-35,000 crore within the next two weeks. He said his ministry was constructing 18 km of roads every day and planned to increase it to 30 km per day by March 2016.
"I haven't been able to get the roads safety bill approved and it's a black spot on my ministry," he added.
