National Highways' increased by 54% since April 2014 till date: Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways today stated that the total length of National Highways (NHs) in India has increased 54 per cent in the last 7 years.

Gadkari, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, said that the total length of NHs in the country has increased from about 91,287 km to about 1,40,937 km since April 2014 till date. During 2014-15 to the end of November 2021, projects in about 82,058 km have been awarded and completion has been achieved in about 68,068 km length of roads.  

Out of 110 NHs languishing projects, in about 9,250 km length, entailing estimated investments of over Rs 1,77,000 crore - 54 projects have been completed in about 3,680 km length costing Rs 49,000 crore; 49 projects in about 4,970 km costing about Rs 1,13,000 crore are in various stages of progress and are targeted for completion by FY 2023-24.

Gadkari added that various steps are taken up by the Government to monitor and check the construction quality and work progress of NHs. All NHs are constructed as per quality standards specified in the Ministry and Indian Roads Congress specifications. The sub-standard works found, if any, are rectified and re-laid as per specifications.

Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase–I, which the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved in 2017, includes the development of 24,800 km length of Greenfield Expressways / Access Controlled Highways / Economic Corridors, Inter-corridor and feeder roads including National Corridors Efficiency improvement projects, Border and International connectivity roads, Coastal and port connectivity roads and balance subsumed about 10,000 km under National Highways Development Projects. So far works in about 19,482 km have been awarded and completion in about 7,952 km length has been achieved under the programme.

The Ministry has also initiated the conceptualisation of an additional 27 Greenfield Expressways / Access Controlled Highways for a total investment of Rs 3.6 lakh crore.

Some of the other major projects providing critical linkage completed during December 2017 onwards are Eastern Peripheral Expressway (135 km costing Rs 4,418 crore), Delhi-Meerut Expressway (82 km costing Rs 8,346 crore), Shillong – Nongstoin – Tura (261 km costing Rs 2,319 crore), Nechipu – Hoj (252 km costing Rs 2,037 crore), Babatpur – Varanasi connectivity (17.25 km costing Rs 813 crore), etc.

Of about 1,100 km identified under National Highway Interconnectivity Improvement Programme (NHIIP) under World Bank Loan Assistance, projects in about 990 km have been completed with a total expenditure of Rs 5,565 crore.

Under Green National Highways Corridor Project (GNHCP) under World Bank Loan Assistance, development of about 781 km length of NHs are envisaged in the States of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, with loan assistance of the World Bank with a total loan amount of $ 500 million and total project cost of Rs 7,662.47 crores. Projects in 288 km have commenced so far.

Projects for the development of about 807 km NHs costing about Rs 19,500 crore have been awarded under Japan International Cooperation Agency Loan Assistance and are targeted for completion by December 2028.

About 14 major bridge/tunnel projects in about 108 km costing Rs 18,173 crore have been completed under various programmes since 2015-16. In addition to these, 10 more tunnel projects in about 43 km with approximate costs of Rs 8,270 crore are at project preparation stages.