Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the progress of key infrastructure sectors of roads, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), rural housing, urban housing, railways, airports, and ports.
The CEO of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant stated that the pace of road construction has picked up significantly. In addition, more green technology is being used in building roads, especially in rural areas.
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The average road length constructed per day in the financial year 2017-18 was 26.93 km, as compared to 11.67 km in the financial year 2013-14.
Pace of road construction has increased significantly in the last four years. At the same time, more green technology is being used in building roads especially in rural areas.
It is equally gladdening to see a remarkable rise in the digitisation of the transport sector.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 3, 2018
According to the press release by the Prime Minister of India website, “Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, rural roads have now connected 88% of all eligible habitations. Over 44,000 villages have been connected in the period from 2014 to 2018, as compared to about 35,000 in the preceding four year period.
The “MeriSadak” App has been launched in 10 regional languages and has seen 9.76 lakh downloads so far. GIS Mapping of roads is underway, and 20 States have so far been hosted on the Geospatial Rural Road Information System (GRRIS). Green technologies, and non-conventional materials such as waste plastic and fly ash, are being used in rural road construction.”
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In the Railways sector, there has been an addition in “new lines, doubling and gauge conversion” between 2014 and 2018, to the extent of 9528 km, which is 56% higher than the preceding four year period.
Similarly, in the Aviation sector, passenger traffic has grown by over 62% in the period between 2014 and 2018, as against 18% in the preceding four year period. Under the Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme, 27 airports are now operational in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
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In the Ports sector, traffic volume in major ports has increased by 17% between 2014 and 2018.
In the Rural Housing sector, over one crore houses have been constructed between 2014 to 2018, as compared to about 25 lakh houses in the preceding four year period. This has boosted employment and related construction industries.
And, in the Urban Housing, 54 lakh houses have been sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Urban), since the inception of the scheme.