The Indian Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has sanctioned Rs400bn ($5.98bn) worth of road projects in Chhattisgarh.

The projects include construction of 1,285km national highways and 40 bridges on Shivnath and Hasdeo Rivers.

According to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, all the road projects would start within one and a half years.

"Of the projects approved, works to the tune of $3.73bn would be complete in next two years and the target had been set for the same."

The minister had previously laid the foundation stone for seven national highway projects at a function held 40km from the state capital.

Approximately $448m is being spent on construction of seven road projects, stretching 342km.

Gadkari said: "Of the projects approved, works to the tune of $3.73bn would be complete in next two years and the target had been set for the same."

Headed by Narendra Modi, India’s Central Government gave high priority to the road development works.

The Chhattisgarh government will also commence construction work of 92 roads out of the 153 roads to be built in districts affected by left-wing extremism (LWE) in the state under ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ (PMGSY).

The expenditure estimated for the road projects would be approximately $24.4m.

Tenders have already been awarded for 90 roads.

The central government had recently also assigned Rs110bn ($1.64bn) for the next five years to fix 726 black spots across the country in order to reduce the number of road deaths.