Govt to award Rs. 3.5 lakh crore worth road projects in six months : Gadkari

The Government will also create  25 lakh jobs in the shipping, road, transport and highways sector,  he told a press conference.

Gadkari said the government has already awarded contracts for building 8,000 km of highways worth Rs 1 lakh crore and revived the  PPP model.

He was confident that the move will contribute to more than two per cent of the GDP.

"Infrastructure plays a pivotal role in bolstering the economy. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has requested us to jack up target and hence we have set a target to award Rs 3.5 lakh crore highway projects in next six months. It is a difficult work but we will try to accomplish it," he said.

"The highway sector was facing a crisis of confidence and all the stakeholders were in complete disarray when we took over...But now investors confidence has revived...PPP is picking up, private sector is evincing interest and there is a major turnaround," Gadkari  added.

"I set for myself a target of highway construction of 30 km per day within two years. We have already taken a leap of 400% - from 3 km per day during last leg of UPA regime to 13 km per day now," he said.

"Given the huge projects in road, transport, highways and shipping sectors, I am confident that in two years time we will be able to create 25 lakh New jobs," the minister said,  adding that the concerned Ministries have entered into a pact with the Ministry of Skill Development for it.

"We are trying to attract foreign funds, insurance funds and pension funds and to build up investors' confidence we will hold a conference of top bankers and investors in which Prime Minister and Finance Minister will also be present," he said.