Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the achievement was remarkable as it was to achieve despite constraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the pace of highway construction in the country has touched a record 37 km per day in the financial year 2020-21.
Gadkari said these “achievements are unprecedented and have no parallel in any other country in the world”. He said that over the past seven years, the length of national highways has gone up by 50 percent from 91,287 km (as of April 2014) to 1,37,625 km (as of March 20, 2021).
“Cumulative cost of ongoing project works has increased by 54 percent at the end of the financial year 2020-21. Total budgetary outlay increased by 5.5 times, from Rs 33,414 crore in the financial year 2015 to Rs 1,83,101 crore for the financial year 2022.
Achievements are unprecedented and have no parallel in any other country in the world, Gadkari said
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has constructed 13,394 km of highways in the fiscal year 2020-21. “Tremendous progress has been achieving in building national highways across the country…We have achieved a road-building pace of 37 km of highways a day,” Gadkari said.
The sanctioned amount has increased by 126 percent in the financial year 2020-21. And over the financial year 2019-20 despite COVID-19-related impact. The minister said adding that the sanctioned length in kilometers has also increased 9 percent in FY21 over FY20.
As per the Ministry, the average annual project award (annual average award length) during the financial year 2015 to the financial year 2021 increased 85 percent, compared to FY10 to FY14.
Average annual construction during FY2015 to FY2021 has increased by 83 percent compared to FY2010 to FY2014, the Ministry added.
The minister said that when he took over the charge of the ministry of highways. There were 406 stalled projects entailing an investment of Rs 3.85 lakh crore.
It was a slew of steps that saved Indian banks from Rs 3 lakh crore of NPAs, he said.
Gadkari said that massive initiatives to resolve the deadlocks and accelerate the pace of highway building. Including termination of projects worth Rs 40,000 crore, resulting in fast-tracking of the road building.