Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday laid the foundation stones of nine highway projects in Tripura to be built at over Rs 2,752 crore.

“Laid the foundation stone for 9 national highway projects in Tripura with a total cost of 2752 Cr in the presence of Chief Minister Shri Shri @BjpBiplabMoS @DrJitendraSingh, MoS @Gen_VKSingh , MPs and MLAs of Tripura. #PragatiKaHighway,” Gadkari tweeted after laying the foundation stones via video conference.

“The 262 km long road projects will be instrumental in increasing tourism in trade and will further boost the connectivity in North East. It will also improve the lives of people by reducing logistic costs,” he said in another tweet.

The projects, on completion, will provide faster and hassle-free inter-state and international connectivity to Bangladesh and will be a major stride towards strengthening the tourism sector of the state, the ministry of road transport and highways said in a statement.

The new projects will provide better connectivity, fast and safe movement of traffic to various tourist places, historical places and religious places in the entire state, it added.

“They are likely to generate a large number of employment and self-employment opportunities to the unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled manpower of the region. The projects will reduce travel time and maintenance cost of the vehicles and saving of fuel,” the statement said.