Report: Construction Pace for 4, 6 and 8-Lane National Highways Up 300% in 7 years

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Recent government data has revealed that in last seven years, the pace of annual construction of eight, six and four-lane national highways has increased by more than 300%. The figure has grown from 1,289 km in 2015-16 to 3,963 km during FY 2021-22. The figures are expected to further grow as various agencies under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, chiefly National Highways Authority of India, have shifted their focus more on the construction of more and more economic corridors and expressways.

In last few years, not only has construction and widening of National Highways to four-lane has been steady, but the construction of six-lane and eight-lane highways has also witnessed quantum jump in last two years. The 10-lane expressway between Mysire and Bangalore is also being constructed by the government that will reduce the travel time between Bengaluru and Mysuru from three hours to just 90 minutes. Reportedly, while only 616 km NH stretches were developed as six-lane and eight-lane highways in 2019-2020, the figure hit the 1,165 km mark in 2021-22.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is building over 1.47 lakh km of roads in the country. The NHAI is also building 22 green highways and by the end of 2024, as the centre aspires to expand the road network matching with the US. The government aims to complete building a two-lakh km national highway network by 2025.

The Bharatmala Pariyojana envisages development of about 26,000 km length of Economic Corridors, about 8,000 km of Inter Corridors and about 7,500 km of feeder routes. This Rs 3.5 lakh crore proposal is expected to be approved by the government soon.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has taken unprecedented initiatives in the past few years to develop road connectivity to Border areas, Coastal roads including road connectivity for Non-Major ports, improvement in the efficiency of National Corridors, development of Economic Corridors, Inter Corridors and Feeder Routes. Asset recycling, through the toll-operate-transfer (ToT) model, has also been taken up by NHAI for 100 highways.