The government today approved a mega plan to build 83,677 kilometre of highways over the next five years at a cost of about seven lakh crore rupees which includes the ambitious Bharatmala project. <br/><br/>An official release said, out of this, Bharatmala project will be implemented with an outlay of 5.35 lakh crore rupees and will generate 14.2 crore man-days of jobs. Bharatmala is a mega plan of the government, aims at improving connectivity in border and other areas.<br/>'<br/>Terming Bharatmala as "connecting India like never before", the Prime Minister's Office said the project will include 9,000 km of economic corridors to unlock full economic potential, 6,000 km of inter-corridor and feeder routes, 5,000 km of national corridors efficiency improvement, 2,000 km of border road connectivity, 800 km of expressways and 10,000 km of balance National Highway Development Projects. <br/>'<br/>On funding of Bharatmala project, the government said, 2.09 lakh crore rupees will be raised as debt from the market, 1.06 lakh crore rupees of private investments would be mobilised through Public Private Partnership and 2.19 lakh crore rupees is to be provided out of accruals to the Central Road Fund and Toll collections of National highways authority of India.<br/>'<br/>Addressing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government has consistently increased public expenditure on infrastructure in order to boost employment and provide renewed impetus to economic growth. <br/>'<br/>