PM Modi inaugurates phase-I of Samruddhi Mahamarg Highway: Welcome move, but a lot needs to be done

By: Yash Gupte

The ministry has constructed 4,060 km of national highways up to October in FY 2022-23 as compared to 4,450 km constructed up to October 2021-22.

PM Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the first phase of the Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, covering a distance of 520 km and connecting Nagpur and Shirdi. The Samruddhi Mahamarg or the 701 km long expressway is India’s one of the longest expressways. It is being built at a cost of Rs 55,000 crore, connecting Mumbai, the state capital and Nagpur, the second or the winter capital of Maharashtra. It passes through Maharashtra’s 10 districts and connects major cities like Nashik, Ahmednagar, Amravati and Aurangabad. Samruddhi Mahamarg is expected to reduce travel time between Nagpur and Mumbai from 16 hours to eight hours.

According to Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the implementing authority of the expressway, the remaining stretch of 181 km will be completed by July 2023, completing the entire 701 km between Nagpur and Mumbai.

Considering the landmark achievement of completion of the first phase of the Samruddhi Mahamarg, India Tracker takes a look at the construction of national highways in the country.

According to the data released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the construction of highways till October 2022 has been a mere 4,060 km against the target of 12,000 km in the current financial year. The ministry has constructed 4,060 km of national highways up to October in FY 2022-23 as compared to 4,450 km constructed up to October 2021-22.

One of the major reasons behind the slowdown in the highway construction is being attributed to country’s prolonged monsoon season. Officials from the ministry and other field experts said that the prolonged monsoon has created a lot of hurdles in the construction. Giridhar Aramane, secretary, ministry of road transport and highways while commenting on the slowdown in the construction activity said that “The construction of new highways has been slow in the first six-month period. The same trend has been seen in the past three years. If we relate the current numbers with same period last year, we have almost reached 90% levels. Construction generally picks up pace in the second half of the year and we are confident of constructing 12,000 km of highways this year."

Aramane’s comments bring hopes about achieving the set target. But let us have a look at the basic mathematics here. The ministry has been able to construct 4,060 km national highways till October 2022. Simplifying this, it means that only around 1/4^th of the target has been met in first seven months of the FY2022-23 as the target of highway construction in the current financial year is 12,000 km. Now, in order to achieve the target, the ministry has to undertake the completion of remaining 8,441 km till March 2023. This means that 3/4^th of the construction in current financial year is still pending. But according to experts, 50 km of new roads must be built every day in order to accomplish the desired goal. The government has never succeeded in doing this in the past.

The chart below compares the construction of National Highways from April to October in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

There is a slowdown in the construction of national highway in the current financial year as compared to the previous one. Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, had stated in the monsoon session of the Rajya Sabha that India's road infrastructure will be equal to that of the United States by 2024. Citing instances of how the expressways will cut down on travel time, he had said that the travel time between major cities of India will be cut to less than half. But the data shows a different reality as the highway construction in India slows down.