Progress check:Mr. Gadkari reviewed the Statewise status of projects during a meeting.H.S. Manjunath  

The government aims to build 45 km of roads per day in financial year 2019, an increase from the daily average of almost 27 km achieved last year, according to Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

The ministry has also set targets of awarding 20,000 km of National Highways and constructing a total of 16,420 km in 2018-2019, up from last year’s awarding of 17,055 km highways and 9,829 km constructed.

“Our target is to build more than 45 km of roads per day. I won’t be surprised if we touch 50 km of roads per day,” Mr. Gadkari told The Hindu . Earlier this month, the ministry had announced that the government would be adopting international norms for calculating highways construction from this fiscal, which would include measuring lane kilometres instead of linear distance. The targets have, however, been set in the old format. The targets for the current fiscal were finalised in a meeting chaired by Mr. Gadkari, during which he reviewed the state-wise status of projects.

Monitoring group

A monitoring group each in the NHAI and the ministry would also be set up. Earlier in the day, during an event, Mr. Gadkari said that land acquisition for the new express highway connecting Delhi and Mumbai would cost Rs. 70 lakh to Rs. 80 lakh per hectare, instead of Rs. 7 crore. The government plans to build the new express highway on a new alignment at a cost of Rs. 1 lakh crore.