Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said here on Thursday that speed limit for vehicles on expressways would soon be increased to cut the fuel costs, and thereby the logistics cost. Rules and regulations in this regard would be changed, he said.

Addressing a public meeting after inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for numerous road development projects in Andhra Pradesh worth Rs 21,559 crore, the Union Minister noted that high logistics cost was proving a major problem for Indian exports.

“Our logistics cost is 16-18 per cent whereas it is 8-10 per cent in China and 12 per cent in Europe and the USA. That’s one of the problems in our exports since the costs are high. We are going to accept this challenge and reduce the logistics cost to 8-10 per cent,” Gadkari said.

He said “time has come” to change the rules and regulations related on speed limit on expressways as access-controlled expressways were crucial to reduce fuel costs.

Stating that there was no shortage of money in his Ministry, Gadkari said the Centre has decided to build 22 greenfield expressways across the country as road infrastructure was vital, including six in Andhra Pradesh.

“Ports, waterways are very important. Road construction is equally important. And, as far as development is concerned, we don’t want to discriminate anybody, because the country belongs to everybody,” he observed.

He said a staggering Rs 3 lakh crore would be spent on road construction in AP by 2024.

“Role of AP is very important in making India economically strong. We will extend 100 per cent support for road development in the state,” the Union Minister added.

Gadkari remarked that “strong political will” was very important to build good infrastructure projects.

Referring to the major greenfield expressway projects for AP, Gadkari said a 465-km expressway between Raipur and Visakhapatnam, traversing through Chhattisgarh, Odisha and AP, would be built at a cost of Rs 16,102 crore.

This would help in increasing business, particularly the container traffic, since railways was already jammed.

This project would be completed by the end of 2024.

Greenfield expressways were also underway between Nagpur and Vijayawada (405-km, costing Rs 15,000 crore), Chittoor and Trichur (116-km, Rs 5,000 crore), Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam (Rs 6,000 crore) and Bengaluru and Chennai through AP (Rs 17,000 crore).

These roads would help in the development of backward regions as well as trade.

Union Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy, AP Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, state Roads and Buildings Minister M Shankara Narayana and others spoke.

Union Minister of State for Road Transport Gen (Retd.) V K Singh addressed the meeting via a video link from New Delhi.

Gadkari later inaugurated the 2-km-long second fly-over at Benz Circle Junction in Vijayawada city, built at a cost of Rs 96 crore.

Later, he went to the Chief Minister’s camp office and discussed various road development proposals.

A release from the CMO said Jagan sought Gadkari’s help to build the six-lane beach corridor road from Visakhapatnam to Bhogapuram, where a new international airport is proposed to be constructed.

The Union Minister also agreed to fund the construction of 30 road-over-bridges across the state, pending for long due to dearth of funds.