Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said Wednesday that his ministry is committed to ensure at least 2 percent growth in GDP through infrastructure sector. He said by May 2016, the ministry will achieve a target of building 30 kms of roads a day as against present 12 kms a day.

"When the NDA government took over, the road building pace was barely 2 kms a day which we will take to 14 kms a day by the next month," he said.

On rising pollution, Gadkari said his ministry is promoting bio-fuel which will bring it down and also cut on huge Rs 6 lakh crore import bill of petroleum.

Gadkari said he supports the National Green Tribunal (NGT) move to ban plying of more than 10 years old diesel vehicles but said it was not possible in two weeks. "My submission is give some time. The ministry is trying to find out a solution," he said.

The NGT, earlier this month had ordered a ban on plying of all diesel vehicles in the national capital that are more than 10 years old, although it stayed its order for impounding of such vehicles by two weeks.

At the same time, Gadkari warned auto manufacturers to comply to pollution norms, saying that if they fail to do so "I will encourage foreign companies like Scania and Volkswagen if you don't want to change."

On ports and shipping front, he said the government will ensure passage of the bill to convert 101 rivers across the country in the current session of Parliament.

He said at present there are only five rivers stretches which have been declared as waterways and steps are on to develop all these, including Rs 4,200 crore project to develop Kolkata-Haldia stretch.

There are 13 power projects on the bank of Ganga and coal imports to these through waterways would be cost-effective, he said. He added that Inland Waterways would be developed on the pattern of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

"We are looking at building smart cities at our 12 major ports and Haldia is soon going to be developed as the first green port since three lakh litres of bio-diesel a day is being manufactured there from edible oil.This is used in running railway engine and other vehicles there," he said.

He said the government has taken a number of initiatives, including expediting land acquisition for projects.

Such land acquisition move has resulted in Coal India arm Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) expanding its mines capacity and taking new projects. "WCL, which was producing 30-35 million tonnes of coal only for the past 30 years, will be expanding output to 100 MT within a month," he said, adding that the government has been working on development-centric projects.

Besides, he said that the government will ensure that the GST Bill is passed in the current session of Parliament.