India’s Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has laid the foundation stone for 11 national highway projects in the state of Haryana through a webcast.

The highway projects will form part of a new economic corridor worth Rs200bn ($2.66bn) facilitating connectivity between Haryana and other states.

Under the programme, foundation stones were laid for the 227km six-lane access-controlled greenfield expressway from Ismailpur to Narnaul on NH 152D, the 46km four-lane Gurugram Pataudi-Rewari section of NH 352W, and the 14.4km four-lane Rewari Byepass.

The projects also include the 30.45km four-lane Rewari-Ateli Mandi section of NH 11, the 40.8km six-lane Narnaul Byepass, the 40.6km four-lane Jind-Gohana section of NH 352A, the 38.23km four-lane Gohana-Sonipat section of NH 352A and the 40.47km four-lane UP-Haryana Border to Roha on NH 334B.

The minister also inaugurated the 35.45km four-lane Rohna/Hasangarh to Jhajjar section of NH 334B, the 70km four-laning of Punjab-Haryana Border to Jind section of NH 71, and the 85.36km two-lane with paved shoulders Jind-Karnal Highway on NH 709.

At the occasion, Minister Gadkari said that the projects will improve connectivity, reduce traffic congestion in big cities, and support economic development in the area.

In another development, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has unveiled plans to partner with the premier engineering institutes of the country to improve road infrastructure.

Particularly, NHAI aims to procure inputs from the faculty and engineering students during different stages of pre-construction, construction and operation of highway stretches.