SME Editorial
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday that capital expenditure on National Highways (NHs) has risen from Rs 51,000 crore in 2013-14 to more than Rs 2.4 trillion in 2022-23.
The ministry said that the budgetary allocation for the ministry has risen to Rs 2.7 trillion in 2023-24 from Rs. 31,130 crore in 2013-14. The NH network in the country has risen from 91,287 km in March 2014 to about 0.14 million km in 2023. Gadkari provided this information in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The length of a four-lane plus NH network, including high-speed corridors has jumped 250 per cent from about 18,371 km in March 2014 to 46,179 km in 2023. The length of less than two-lane NHs has fallen from about 27,517 km in March 2014 to about 14,870 km in 2023.
Twenty-one green field access-controlled corridors, including expressways are being constructed, under which 3,336 km length has been completed.
Gadkari also listed several flagship projects which were already completed or sections of which were completed. The Delhi-Dausa – Lalsaut section spanning 229 km, the Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar section spanning 470 km, the Indore-Hyderabad project spanning 175 km, the Suryapet – Khammam section of the Hyderabad-Vishakhapatnam project, and Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project in Mizoram were some of the projects mentioned by Gadkari in Lok Sabha.
In November, the ministry, in its monthly summary for the Cabinet for October 2023, stated that the pace of national highway construction in the country stood at 20.78 km a day during the first seven months of the current financial year. The ministry plans to construct 12,500 km of highways in 2023-24.
