Union road and transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, announced a fund of Rs.60,000 crore to boost road network in Marathwada. The funds, the minister is known to have said, will be given over a period of five years. A detailed project report, claim industry sources, is being prepared by the authorities concerned. Gadkari also drew attention to work already in progress. He stated that the the state government has already initiated land acquisition process for the Rs.8,000 crore Nagpur-Solapur-Ratnagiri national highway which is expected to benefit Vidarbha, Marathwada,Western Maharashtra and Konkan. Sources claim that efforts are on to have four-lane road connectivity between Aurangabad, Paithan, Shirdi, Ajanta and Nanded.