India's national highways infrastructure is world-class success story and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is a gold mine and will never be in debt trap, Union Minster for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari said on Sunday, a PTI report said. 

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The Centre will get toll revenues worth Rs 1,000 to 1,500 crore every month once the much-awaited Delhi-Mumbai Expressway becomes operational in 2023, Gadkari said and described state-owned NHAI as a "gold mine" for generating income.

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The eight-lane expressway, covering Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, is expected to halve the commute time between the national capital and the country's financial hub from nearly 24 hours to 12 hours.

Against the backdrop of concerns being flagged about NHAI being saddled with high level of debt, the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister pointed out that the nodal agency has received 'AAA' rating and all its road projects are productive.

'AAA' is one of the highest credit ratings and indicate robust financial position.

"NHAI was not in a debt trap, and it will never be in debt trap in future. It is a gold mine, and is on strong footing... In the next five years, NHAI's toll income will rise to Rs 1.40 lakh crore per year from current toll income of Rs 40,000 crore," Gadkari noted.

In March, the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture had expressed its displeasure over a whopping Rs 97,115 crore-debt servicing liability on NHAI.

Recently, the minister informed Rajya Sabha that total borrowings of NHAI increased to Rs 3,06,704 crore at the end of March this year from Rs 74,742 crore in March 2017.

While noting that investments in the infrastructure sector will create employment and accelerate the country's economic growth, Gadkari said, "We (NHAI and the ministry) are working on projects worth lakhs of crores".

When the economy is on a decline, "then economics tells us that there is a need to increase investments in infrastructure", he added.

The country's economy has been adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and is slowly on the recovery path.