2023-24 is set to be the year which sees the highest ever capacity addition of highway projects, as per a report by Mint. The govt expects to end this fiscal with a capacity addition that will surpass even the record construction levels seen in the pandemic year 2020-21.
The govt has set a target to construct over 13,800 kms of highways in FY24 and has reached a level 7,685 kms until January this year.
As per Anurag Jain, secretary of road, transport and highways ministry, overall construction should reach 12,500 km to 13,000 km this year, of which 9,500 km would be actual capacity addition and the rest will be road strengthening projects.
He also said that actual annual highway construction should remain in 12,000-13,000 km range over the next decade.
"Up to January 2024, we have seen a 10 per cent year-on-year growth while the increase in construction of four-lane highways is 16 per cent," he said, adding that the construction of four-lane and above roads now stands at two-and-a-half times the annual achievement of FY’14.
Jain said the ministry is also confident of awarding highway projects worth Rs 10,000 crore by March end.
The NH network increased by 60 per cent from 91,287 km in 2014 to 1,46,145 km in the year 2023, government data showed.
The length of four lanes and above NH increased by 2.5 times from 18,387 km in 2014 to 46,179 km in November 2023, the secretary said.
He said MoRTH will come out with a modified Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project document in the next few days to attract interest of private companies for investments in the highways sector.