Revving Up Roadways: 54,000 KM State Roads Notified As National Highways Since 2014, Says Govt
The length of the National Highways (NH) network in India has expanded from 91,287 km in March, 2014 to 146,342 km at present, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The House was also informed that since April 2014 – the starting of the financial year 2014-15, a total of 54,004 km of state roads, including state highways and greenfield stretches, have been notified as NHs.
'Development and maintenance of NHs is a continuous process. Works on notified NHs are accordingly taken up based on the traffic density, connectivity requirement, condition of the road, inter-se priority and synergy with PM Gati Shakti NM," the Ministry said.
MP Chavda Vinod Lakhamsh and Rajesh Mishra had asked Union Minister Nitin Gadkari if any proposals are pending for sanctioning of new national highways. Gadkari said currently 1,240 NHs projects in about 29,400 km length costing Rs 7.8 lakh crore are under construction in the country.
Gadkari also said that at present, 206 under construction NHs projects – costing Rs 91,290 crore – are delayed in Rajasthan and north eastern states including Assam.
These projects are expected to be ready in a phased manner in 2025-26 and only few projects will be completed beyond 2026-27.
Pace of NH building drops below 30 km/day
Gadkari said that construction of NHs and the growth in NH construction in Kilometres/day during 2014-25 has been below 30 km/day in almost all the financial year, except three times – 2020-21 (37 km/day); 2023-24 (34 km/day); 2018-19 (30 km/day).
The peak of NH building in India was achieved in 2020–21 with 13,327 km built – 37 km/day. However, after that it dropped to about 28–29 km/day. The year 2023–24 was another exception, witnessing a recovery to 34 km/day, with the second-highest annual construction (12,349 km).
In 2014-15 only 4,410 km of national highway was constructed – 12 km/ day and in 2015-16 the number was 6,061 km (17 km/day).
During the last financial year, 2024-25, a total of 10,660 km of national highway was constructed – 29 km/day.
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