The prices of all electric vehicles (EVs) will be equal to the cost of petrol vehicles in the country within one year, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday.
Gadkari further said the government is promoting ethanol produced from crop residue instead of petrol and diesel.
“I am trying…within one year, the cost of electric vehicles will be equivalent to the cost of petrol vehicles in the country and we will save money spent on fossil fuels,” he said. The minister said the government is already promoting green fuels in a big way.
Gadkari noted that waterways us a cheaper mode of transportation than road and it is going to come up in a big way.
On the other hand, Gadkari said, the government is working towards expanding the National Highway network to 2 lakh kilometres by 2025.
Addressing an event organised by Indian Roads Congress (IRC), Gadkari also proposed the setting up of ‘Innovation Bank’ for new ideas, research findings and technologies to focus on quality in infrastructure development.
“Our government is dedicatedly working towards expanding the National Highway network to 2 lakh kilometres by 2025,” he said.
The minister pointed out that in the last eight years the length of National Highways has gone up by more than 50 per cent, from 91,000 km in 2014 to about 1.47 lakh km now.
Noting that the government is very committed to the development of the northeast region, he said NHIDCL (National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation) is playing a vital role in developing infrastructure in this region.
“To date, 2,344 km highway has been constructed at the cost of Rs 45,000 crore in the North East region,” Gadkari said.