The Government would spend a whopping Rs 5 lakh crore over the next two years in infrastructure projects to spur the economy and create thousands of jobs, Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said in December. “We will spend Rs 2 lakh crore in infrastructure projects in this fiscal (2019-20) and Rs 3 lakh crore in the next fiscal (2020-21) to boost the economy and generate employment in thousands,” Mr Gadkari said at a trade event here.

Asserting that there was no dearth of funds for the infrastructure sector, the minister said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would lease land flanking the highways across the country for building petrol-filling stations, logistics parks, bus ways and parking plazas to generate Rs 30,000 crore annually from the transport ecosystem.