Mangaluru : Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said that in the past three years, the Union government had released Rs 13,000 crore for various development works in the district. His statement came in the wake of third anniversary celebrations of the BJP-led Union government on Friday.

MP Kateel yet again noted that the Mangaluru-Bengaluru high-speed National Highway would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1.18 lakh crore and would connect the port city and the state capital. The Union government has already sanctioned the amount for the project and the highway is expected to be completed in a time span of five years, he said while speaking to the reporters in the taluk on Friday.

The Mangaluru-Bengaluru high-speed highway is one among the four highways to be built at a total cost of Rs 4.98 lakh crore in order to connect major ports with business hubs of the country. The government has already prepared a route map for the other three highways which include Mumbai-Kolkata, Ludhiana-Kandla and Porbandar-Silchar.