Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said his ministry is finalising a policy for use of municipal waste in road construction, PTI noted.
Addressing a press conference, Gadkari further said the government is considering offering incentives to construction equipment manufacturers for not using fossil fuels, PTI reported.
“We are finalising the policy for using municipal waste in road construction,” he said.
Gadkari said his ministry has taken several initiatives to decarbonise the transport sector and that the government is working on developing electric highways between Delhi and Jaipur, PTI stated.
Electric highways cater to electric traction for vehicles in the same manner as is done for railways. This is based on a prevalent technology in countries like Sweden and Norway. It involves the provision of power cables, which can be utilised by a vehicle which caters to this type of technology. The vehicle will utilise the power from this cable for its traction, PTI noted.
At present, the ministry is evaluating various technologies.
Gadkari said that by 2025, there will be a mandate to use 1% sustainable aviation fuel with prospective plans to escalate it to 5% blending in India. He also said that in the ‘Swachta hi seva’ fortnight, several programmers including cleanliness drive along national highways, wayside amenities, dhabas, toll plazas have been planned at 13,000 locations and work has been completed in almost 7000 locations, PTI reported.