December 15, 2023: Capital expenditure on national highways has significantly increased from about Rs 51,000 crore in 2013-14 to more than Rs 2,40,000 crore in 2022-23, Parliament was informed on December 14.
While stating that infrastructure is the prime mover of the economy, and contributes to faster growth and development, minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, said that budgetary allocation of the road and transport ministry has increased from about Rs 31,130 crore to in 2013-14 to Rs 2,70,435 crore in 2023-24.
“Such increased Budgetary allocation led to expansion of the national highway network in the country from about 91,287 km in March 2014 to about 1,46,145 km at present, including the states of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Northeastern states,” said Gadkari.
The length of the 4-lane plus national highway network, including high-speed corridors, has increased by more than 250% from about 18,371 km in March 2014 to about 46,179 km so far.
Also, the length of less than 2 land national highway network has decreased from about 27,517 km to about 14,870 km during the same period. In fact, these contribute only 10% to the existing national network.
According to the Gadkari, his ministry has focused on development of new high-speed corridors, and project implementation has already been started on 21 new access-controlled corridors, including expressways in which work in about 3,336 km length has been completed.
The ministry has completed various flagship projects that will enable ease of movement by curbing traffic, he added.
These include the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway’s Delhi-Dausa-Lalsaut Section of 229 km and another 210-km section in Madhya Pradesh; the Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar (470 km) in Rajasthan; the Suryapet-Khammam section of the Hyderabad-Vishakhapatnam road project; the Indore-Hyderabad (175 km); the new Brahamputra Bridge near Tejpur in Assam on NH-37A(old); the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project in Mizoram; the Shillong Nongstoin-Tura section of the NH-44E and NH 127B in Meghalaya.
Work on several flagship corridors of the ministry is in progress, Gadkari said. These include the Vadodara-Mumbai Section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, the Bengaluru Ring Road, the Raipur-Vishakhapatnam Economic Corridor, the Char Dham Projects in Uttarakhand, the Trans Aurnachal Highway (NH-13, NH-15 and NH-215) and the Imphal-Moreh section in the Manipur, Dimapur-Kohima section.
These developments have increased the connectivity and accessibility to the national highways across the country and also increased the logistics efficiency, he added.
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An alumna of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, Sunita Mishra brings over 16 years of expertise to the fields of legal matters, financial insights, and property market trends. Recognised for her ability to elucidate complex topics, her articles serve as a go-to resource for home buyers navigating intricate subjects. Through her extensive career, she has been associated with esteemed organisations like the Financial Express, Hindustan Times, Network18, All India Radio, and Business Standard.
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Sunita holds an MA degree in Sanskrit, with a specialisation in Indian Philosophy, from Delhi University. Outside of her work schedule, she likes to unwind by practising Yoga, and pursues her passion for travel.
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