Sunday, 13 Oct, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, recently stated in the Rajyasabha that India's road infrastructure will be equal to that of the United States by 2024.
Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, recently stated in the Rajyasabha 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 said, “Delhi to Chandigarh will take two-and-a-half hours, Delhi to Amritsar four hours, and you will be able to do Delhi to Mumbai in 12 hours. By 2024, I guarantee that roads in India will be like those in the United States.” Nitin Gadkari, who has held the ministry since 2014, has made similar statements in the past – on his big plans for Indian highways, creating “world records” in road construction and getting Indian highways to look like America’s freeways. But this seems to be difficult considering that the pace of national highway construction in the country has slowed during the first four months of the current financial year, according to official data.
While national highway (NH) building in the country reached a record 37 km per day in 2020–2021, it dropped to 28.64 km per day in 2021–2022 as a result of disruptions associated to the COVID–19 epidemic and a monsoon that lasted longer than usual in some regions. It has further dropped to 20.43 km a day in the current year. As per the data provided by the ministry, only 1,975 km of road projects were awarded between April-July in 2022, compared to 2,434 km of road projects awarded in the year-ago period. The official target for highway construction has been kept at 12,000 km for the current financial year. The ministry had constructed 10,237 km in 2019-20, 13,327 km in 2020-21 and 10,457 km in 2021-22.
The chart below compares the construction of National Highways from January to July in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
The highway construction is on a decline in the current year as compared to the previous one when compared from January to July. The highway construction has been low in the months of May, June and July due to the heavy monsoon in various parts of the country. The ministry constructed 2493 kms of national highway up to July in 2022-23 as compared to 2927 kms constructed up to July 2021-22.
The chart below compares the award figures of the construction of roads (in Kms) from January to July 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
The highest award of the construction of national highways was recorded in the month of March for both the years while the lowest was recorded in the month of April. Among the months from January to July, March is the only exception as the award of the construction of national highways had increased from 10,964 kms in 2021 to 12,731 kms in 2022.
Therefore, the aim of record breaking construction of national highways this year will not be an easy task. The target can only be achieved if the months after monsoon witness rapid highway construction.
