The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is gearing up to achieve a national milestone by constructing a record-breaking 13,813 km of highways in the current financial year, announced Secretary Anurag Jain on Friday. Addressing reporters, Jain revealed the ministry’s ambitious goal to eliminate national highways with less than two lanes by the fiscal year 2027-28.
In March 2012, the total length of less than two-lane National Highways (NH) stood at 25,517 km, accounting for 30.1 percent of the total length. Presently, this figure has reduced to 14,350 km, constituting 9.8 percent of the total length.
Providing a historical perspective, the ministry constructed 10,237 km of National Highways in the 2019-20 fiscal year, followed by 13,327 km in 2020-21, 10,457 km in 2021-22, and 10,331 km in 2022-23. In the ongoing fiscal year, the ministry has already built 6,216 km of NH up to December, surpassing the 5,774 km constructed during the same period in the previous year.
Jain also shared the ministry’s target to generate Rs 40,000 crore through asset monetization in the current financial year. Looking ahead, he expressed confidence in attracting more private investment for road projects, envisioning that India’s road infrastructure will rival that of developed countries in the next 10-12 years.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) play crucial roles in the construction of national highways and expressways across the country.