Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said that India’s logistics cost will come down to single digits by the end of 2026, making the country more competitive in global trade.“I want to assure the Prime Minister and all of you that before the end of 2026, the logistics cost of our country will come in the single digits, which will be very important for our exports. We will become even more competitive,” Gadkari said while addressing an event in New Delhi.Currently, India’s logistics cost stands at around 14-16%, compared to 8% in China and 12% in the US and Europe, he added. The minister made these remarks at an event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated two major National Highway projects worth nearly Rs 11,000 crore, the Delhi section of the Dwarka Expressway and the Urban Extension Road-II (UER-II).The 10.1 km Delhi section of the Dwarka Expressway, built at a cost of Rs 5,360 crore, will provide multi-modal connectivity to Yashobhoomi Convention Centre, DMRC’s Blue and Orange lines, the upcoming Bijwasan railway station, and the Dwarka cluster bus depot. Earlier, in March 2024, the prime minister inaugurated the Haryana section of the same expressway.PM Modi also inaugurated the Alipur–Dichaon Kalan stretch of UER-II along with new links to Bahadurgarh and Sonipat. Developed at a cost of Rs 5,580 crore, this corridor is expected to ease traffic on Delhi’s Inner and Outer Ring Roads and key junctions like Mukarba Chowk, Dhaula Kuan, and NH-09, while boosting industrial connectivity in NCR.With these projects, “the people of Delhi NCR will get great relief from traffic jams. If I say that the problem of 50 per cent traffic jam in Delhi will be reduced due to these highways, I think it will not be surprising,” Gadkari noted.(With inputs from ANI)