Lucknow: 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.