The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had taken up detailed review of NHs network with a view to develop the road connectivity to Border areas, development of 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 along with integration with Sagarmala, etc., under “Bharatmala Pariyojana”. Under this proposal, the Ministry has identified stretches for development of about 26,200 km length of Economic Corridors, 8,000 km of Inter Corridors, 7,500 km of Feeder Routes, 5,300 km Border and International connectivity roads, 4,100 km Coastal and Port connectivity roads, 1,900 km Expressways, National Corridor Efficiency improvement by development of ring roads around 28 cities, decongestion of about 125 choke points and 66 congestion points, development of 35 nos. of Multimodal Logistics Parks. 

The Ministry is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of National Highways (NHs). Development and maintenance of NHs is a continuous process. The works on NHs are, accordingly, taken up depending upon inter-se priority, traffic density and availability of funds to keep the NHs in traffic worthy conditions.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the proposal for investment approval for Phase-I of “Bharatmala Pariyojana” during its meeting held on 24.10.2017. “Bharatmala Pariyojana” Phase–I includes development of about 9,000 km length of Economic corridors, about 6,000 km length of Inter-corridor and feeder roads, about 5,000 km length of National Corridors Efficiency improvements, about 2,000 km length of Border and International connectivity roads, about 2,000 km length of Coastal and port connectivity roads, about 800 km length of Expressways and balance length of about 10,000 km of roads under National Highways Development Project (NHDP). The programme is targeted for completion in 2021-2022.

Total investment of Rs. 6,92,324 crore is envisaged under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I and other NHs/road development schemes upto 2021-22; this includes investment of Rs. 5,35,000 crore for Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I and projects under NHDP.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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