Nitin Gadkari assesses impact of covid-19 on highway projects

Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday chaired a virtual meeting comprising 300 officials from the road ministry, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corp. Ltd (NHIDCL) to assess the impact of the outbreak of covid-19 on road projects as well as the government’s strategy after the lockdown is lifted.

The minister asked officials to make the best use of the lockdown, and complete pending work such as clearing dues to contractors, granting project approvals, so that construction work can resume in full swing as soon as the lockdown is lifted, a senior government official told Mint.

Last month, the government imposed a three-week nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, which also resulted in the ban of construction activity, along with shortage of labourers, construction workers that moved back to their villages.