Though National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will fund the Pune-Satara road project, citizens will have to pay road toll, said Nitin Gadkari, union minister for road transport and highways, on Saturday.
Gadkari said, “I instructed NHAI to fund the incomplete project and finish the work in a maximum of six months. If citizens want good quality roads, they will have to pay for it.”
When asked why NHAI is funding the Pune-Satara road project instead of Reliance, Gadkari said, “The project got delayed due to a controversy between bank and contractor. As the bank was not giving toll collection money to the contractor, they were not able to carry out the work. Termination and all legal process would take a long time. To avoid all this, I instructed the NHAI to fund the project.”