Onboard special aircraft [India], September 17 (ANI): Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari after inspecting the Bharuch section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway on Friday said that the Narmada steel bridge was built in a record time of 32 months.

"The span between 2 piers of Narmada steel bridge is 120 metres and it has been built in a record time of 32 months. We've thought about wildlife and spent Rs 1,300 crores on this highway," the Union Road Transport Minister told ANI.

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"We've given good price to farmers for their land. It is the highway of progress and development of the country. It will save a billion litres of fuel. The distance between Delhi and Mumbai will be covered in 12 hours by car compared to 48 hours before," said Gadkari.

"This highway is crossing from the tribal districts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, this will be a development for the areas," Gadkari said.

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Earlier in the day he inspected the iconic bridge built across the Narmada river near Bharuch, Gujarat.The 2-km long extra-dosed cable span bridge will be India's first 8 lane bridge to be built across the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME).

As per the official release by the Ministry, the expressway is being developed at a cost of Rs 98,000 crores. The 1,380 kilometres long Delhi Mumbai expressway will be the longest expressway in India.

The expressway will connect the urban centres of Delhi through the Delhi-Faridabad-Sohna section of the corridor along with a spur to Jewar Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port to Mumbai through a spur in Mumbai.

"We're working on ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, bio-CNG, electric, LNG and green hydrogen. The work is in progress for lithium-ion battery, sodium-ion battery, zinc oil, aluminium oil, steel oil," Gadkari added.

"I believe that in battery capacity, we'll become successful. 86 per cent of batteries are being manufactured in India and in future, we'll take it to 100 per cent. We'll become the manufacturing hub of electric vehicles and export them to the world," he added. (ANI)

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)