New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) The government is committed to expanding the national highway network across the country with the aim of constructing 18,000 km of highways in 2022-23 at a record speed of 50 km per day, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

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Gadkari further said the government's overall target is to develop 2 lakh km of National Highway Network by 2025.

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The road transport and highways minister emphasised that constructing world class road infrastructure in a time bound and target oriented way is essential.

"Ambitious targets to fulfil the ambitions of New India! Under the leadership of PM Shri @narendramodiji, we are committed to expanding the NH network across the country with the aim of constructing 18,000 km of NHs in 2022-23 at a record speed of 50km per day," he said in a tweet.

India's national highway construction slowed to 28.64 km a day in 2021-22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions and a longer-than-usual monsoon in some parts of the country.

The pace of national highway (NH) construction in the country had touched a record 37 km per day in 2020-21.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) are primarily responsible for the construction of national highways and expressways across the country.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)