As per the last available report, Road network in India has increased from about 54,02,486 km in March, 2014 to about 63,31,791 km in March, 2019, which is the second largest in the world.

The Ministry is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of National Highways (NHs). Budgetary allocation of the Ministry has increased from about Rs. 31,130 Crore to in 2013-14 to Rs. 2,76,351 Crore in 2023-24.Capital expenditure on NHs has significantly increased from about Rs. 51,000 Crore in 2013-14 to more than Rs. 2,40,000 Crore in 2022-23. Infrastructure sector which is the prime mover of the economy contribute to the faster economic growth and development.

NH network length in the country has increased by 1.6 times from 91,287 km in March, 2014 to 1,46,145 km at present. With increased budgetary allocation since April 2014, quality of roads has improved substantially. Length of 4 lane and above NH network has increased by more than 2.5 times from 18,371 km in 2014 to 46,720 km. Also less than 2 lane NHs has almost halved from 27,517 km to 14,350 km by bringing down the share of less than 2 lane NHs from 30% to 10% of the total NH network.

Ministry has decided to focus on development of High Speed Access controlled NHs for improving the logistics efficiency of the country. In addition, Ministry has also adopted a policy to improve all NHs as per the traffic requirement but minimum Two Lane with paved shoulders standards except for ecologically sensitive Himalayan region where development plan is finalised considering the geological, environmental factors etc.

Project implementation has already been started on 21 green field access-controlled corridors including expressways in which work in about 3,658 km length has been completed.

Ministry has completed various flagship projects or its sections which are already completed and opened to traffic to enable ease of movement. Some of these include Delhi-Dausa - Lalsaut section (229 km) and entire section in Madhya Pradesh (210km) of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar (470 km) in the State of Rajasthan, Suryapet – Khammam section of Hyderabad-Vishakhapatnam, Indore-Hyderabad (175 km),new Brahamputra Bridge near Tejpur in Assam on NH-37A(old), Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project in Mizoram, Shillong Nongstoin-Tura section of NH-44E & NH 127B in Meghalaya.

Also, several flagship corridors of Ministry e.g. Vadodara - Mumbai Section of Delhi - Mumbai Expressway, Raipur – Vishakhapatnam Economic Corridor, Char Dham Projects in Uttarakhand, Trans Arunachal Highway (NH-13, NH-15 and NH-215) in Arunachal Pradesh, Imphal-Moreh section in the Manipur, Dimapur – Kohima section etc. are in progress.

Major Flagship projects taken up in the State of Karnataka during the period include Bengaluru – Mysore Expressway (118 km), Six laning of Haveri-Hubli section of NH-4 (63 km), Bengaluru - Chennai Expressway (262 km), Bengaluru Ring Road (280 km), Solapur-Kurnool-Chennai Corridor (329 km) etc.

Further all districts of Karnataka are connected by NHs with construction of about 4,755 km NH length at an expenditure of about Rs 55,765 crore since April 2014 in the state.

The above developments have increased the regional connectivity, including for Karnataka, and accessibility to the NHs across the country and also increased the logistics efficiency.

Year-wise details of constructed NH length during the last nine years are as under:-

Ministry has identified 35 Multimodal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) for development as part of BMP to improve logistics efficiency to the Indian economy. 15 MMLPs have been prioritized for development under BMP-I.

Ministry has also undertaken green initiatives by planting about 3.46 cr trees since 2016, besides utilizing municipal waste for embankment construction, waste plastics in Bituminous construction and waste slag in Cement Concrete Construction towards carbon neutrality and sustainable development.

Key strategies adopted/employed to achieve the above remarkable growth and achievements of NH network in the country undertaken by Ministry are as under:-

1. Ministry resolved the inherited stalled projects (stalled projects till 2013-14) by close monitoring at the highest levels and also by suitable policy interventions like one time fund infusion, substitution, termination & repackaging etc.
2. Promoting Contractor’s Ecosystem by rationalising the projects and contract documents
3. All project planning including preparation of DPR mandated on PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) Portal
4. Awarding projects after adequate preparation in terms of land acquisition and preconstruction activities
5. Simplified procedure for approval of GAD (General Arrangement Drawing) by Railways
6. Streamlining land acquisition process
7. Adoption of new technologies and continuously upgrading the standards and specifications
8. Raising resources from innovative financing models etc.
9. Relaxations in contract provisions under "Atmanirbhar Bharat" to improve liquidity of funds
10. Revamped dispute resolution mechanism
11. Portal based project monitoring leading to early resolution of issues
12. Periodic reviews of projects at various levels

 

This information was given by the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today.

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MJPS/NSK

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