The Government of India and the World Bank have signed an agreement for the Green National Highway Corridors Project, with loan assistance of $500 million against total project cost of $1,288.24 million (Rs 7,662.47 crore).
An aggregate length of 781 km will be constructed in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
The objective of the green highway corridor is to demonstrate safe and green highways keeping in view climate resilience and use of green technologies by incorporating the provisions of conservation of natural resources using cement treated sub base/reclaimed asphalt pavement, the
Rajya Sabha was told.
Use of local/marginal material such as lime, fly ash, waste plastic, bio-engineering measures for slope protection such as hydroseeding, coco/jute fibre etc., will enhance the ability of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to bring green technologies into the mainstream.
In order to promote eco-friendly means of transportation and decarbonize the transport sector, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified
mass emission standards to introduce alternate fuels.
This includes fuels such as blends of ethanol with gasoline, flex-fuel and ethanol-blend for diesel vehicles, biodiesel, bio-CNG, liquefied natural gas (LNG), Methanol, dual fuel, hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and hydrogen CNG.