Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari today said that the government has constructed a record 11,035 kilo meters of roads and highways till date in the current financial year, which translates into paving of 33 km a day.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Gadkari said, "We have constructed 11,035 km of highways till date in the current financial year. This is the highest length of roads and highways built in the country till date. With this, we have achieved the construction of 32.85 km of roads and highways per day."

Gadkari said that the pace of construction is despite the Covid-led challenges and non-availability of labourers during the lockdown. He also expressed hope that the ministry will achieve a construction target of 40-km per day in the remaining month of the fiscal.

The best achievement so far on highway construction was 10,855 km of construction in 2018-19, when the ministry logged an average daily construction of 29.73 km. "Since one month is left in the current fiscal, the achievement will be even better," Gadkari added.

During the event, Gadkari also launched a real-time online monitoring of the toll plazas across the country. "Our aim is to reduce to waiting time at the toll plazas to less than one minute. The system can be accessed by highway users online," Gadkari said.

(With inputs from agencies)