NH length goes up to 1.32 lakh km by Dec 31, 2019
By TIOL News Service
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NEW DELHI, JAN 02, 2020: 2019 was the year for consolidating the gains that accrued from major policy decisions taken in the previous five years, a time for monitoring of ongoing projects, tackling road blocks and adding to the already impressive pace of work achieved during the past years. During 2018-19, projects in about 5,494 km length were awarded and completion was achieved in about 10,855 km length of roads. The rate of development of roads has increased significantly from about 11.7 km during 2013-14 to about 30 km now. During the current year, projects for 3211 km length have been awarded and 5958 km length has been constructed till November 2019.
During the year the Ministry and its associated organizations have carried forward the good work of the previous years, expanding the national highways network in the country, taking various steps to make these highways safe for the commuters and making best efforts to minimize adverse impact on the environment. As a result, National Highways (NHs) length has increased from 91,287 km in April, 2014 to about 1,32,500 km. as on 31.12.2019.
Under ToT mode, a bundle of 9 projects with total length of 566 km has been awarded this Financial Year for a concession fee of Rs. 5,011 crores against the reserve price of Rs. 4,998.71 crore. Further initiatives are being taken up to bid out more projects under TOT mode during this Financial Year.
The Ministry proposes to develop additional 60,000 kms of National Highways in the next five years, of which 2500 km are Express Ways/Access Controlled Highways, 9000 kms Economic Corridors, 2000 kms for Coastal and Port Connectivity Highways and 2000 kms Border Road/ Strategic Highways. The Ministry also intends to improve connectivity for 100 tourist destinations and construct Bypasses for 45 towns/cities during this period.
Expenditure of Ministry increased from 33,745 crore in 2013-14 to Rs. 1,37,354 crore in 2018-19. During the current year an expenditure of Rs. 85,275 crore has already been incurred till November 2019 including IEBR of NHAI.
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