Lucknow, Jan 20 (IANS): Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari Tuesday announced that the central government would spend Rs.50,000 crore to improve the condition of roads in Uttar Pradesh.
A major overhaul of roads is a pre-requisite for the development and progress of Uttar Pradesh, he said in Basti district, while laying the foundation stone for widening the Lumbini-Duddhi road.
Gadkari said the Bharatiya Janata Party has a good record of improving road infrastructure in the country and the amount of Rs.50,000 crore for improving the state's roads would be spent before December 2015.
He also announced that the Ram Janki road would be upgraded to a national highway and the work would begin within the next four months.
Gadkari said a peripheral ring road would be built in Basti.
He said the central government has been working on a project to open 101 new waterways across the country.