Delhi To Haridwar In Just 1.5 Hours From Next Month: Nitin Gadkari Announces New Expressway

Travel time between Delhi and Haridwar could be reduced to just 90 minutes from next month, Union Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said. Gadkari, who spoke at the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) National Conference on ‘Highways of India's Future: Smart, Safe and Sustainable' on Tuesday, said that a new road project would improve connectivity to Haridwar.

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Delhi To Haridwar New Project

Nitin Gadkari cited examples of road projects that had reduced the distance between the national capital and other cities. He said that the travel time between Delhi and Meerut had gone down from three-and-a-half to 40-50 minutes. “And now we have just opened Delhi Dehradun or Delhi to Dehradun. It was seven hours. Now you can go within two hours,” Gadkari said. “So that way, now in the next month we are going to open Delhi to Haridwar. It will only take one-and-a-half hours,” he added.

‘80-85% Of Char Dham Project Complete'

Gadkari explained that infrastructure spending could support tourism-related employment and bring in more visitors to religious sites. He mentioned, “It is important for tourism because 49% of the capital expenditure is in tourism. It is going to be helpful for creating employment potential.”

Talking about the Char Dham road project, Gadkari said 80-85% of the project had been completed and traffic from Delhi to religious destinations in Uttarakhand had increased threefold. He also mentioned how the development of road projects in Ayodhya and Maharashtra, including the Pandharpur Palkhi Marg projects, could bring in more pilgrims and boost the economy.

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Government Prioritising Road Construction: Gadkari

The minister added that the government was focusing on road construction, prioritising expressways and green express highways, to improve connectivity across the country. He said that road construction projects create jobs during the building phase and also generate demand for materials like cement and steel.

Gadkari also highlighted that “infrastructure spending is the backbone of the Indian economy.” He mentioned that if we spend Rs 100 on infrastructure, the impact on the economy is Rs 325. Giving the example of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, Gadkari stressed that greenfield projects could improve connectivity for tribal districts with economic centres. He said India had significant potential for tourism and better road connectivity could help more tourist destinations attract visitors.