CHANDIGARH: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday inaugurated and laid foundation stones of 29 national highway projects worth Rs 4,000 crore in Punjab.

The projects included the Ladhowal bypass in Ludhiana, the six-lane flyover and two-lane road overbridge in Ludhiana, the four laning of the Jalandhar-Kapurthala section and three bridges on the Jalandhar-Makhu road.

Addressing a gathering in Hoshiarpur, Gadkari said the BJP-led government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is building expressways, including green expressways, which are helping shortening distances between places.

He said five greenfield expressways and economic corridors are being built at a cost of Rs 1.20 lakh crore for better connectivity from Punjab to Delhi, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.

He also spoke about the 670-km greenfield expressway Delhi-Amritsar-Katra project, saying once this project is complete, one can reach Amritsar from Delhi in four hours and Katra from Delhi in six hours.