‘Industrial investment essential to generate jobs for youth’

Kamakhyanagar: Investment in the industrial sector is necessary to generate a number of jobs for youth in the country, said Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari.

Attending a Bhoomi Pujan (groundbreaking) ceremony for three National Highways projects of total length 132 km, worth Rs 2,345 crore at Kamakhyanagar in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district today, he lauded the achievements of his government in the field of road and transport.

“Water, power, transport and communication are four basic things required in today’s era. The industrial investment is necessary to generate jobs for youths and the resources in Odisha can be best utilised if the road transport and sea transport will be better here,” Gadkari said.

His ministry is working hard and many more projects on the cards for growth in this sector. He promised to meet the targets by end of 2019.

He also praised the growth registered in the civil aviation sector in the country.

“Our government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought a revolution in the field of aviation. Now people wearing ‘hawai’ chappal is flying on flights,” Gadkari said in his address.

He said that the country registered tremendous growth in road construction and expansion.

“As far as the road is concerned, when I assumed the charge as the minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, the road construction work was 2 km per day. Now I am happy to state that in March last year, it was 28 km per day. We expect it will be extended to 40 km per day by March this year,” the Union Minister said.

Referring to John Kennedy’s one of the famous quotes, ‘American roads are not good because America is rich, but America is rich because American roads are good’, Gadkari said that the country will have better road communication and improved transport system in the upcoming days.

He said that his ministry is working towards increasing the National Highways network connecting the major towns in Odisha.

“As the density has increased in Odisha, the NH network needs to be expanded. The 4.632 km-long NH in the year 2014 in Odisha has been expanded to 9,424 km in 2018,” Gadkari added.