The construction of national highways in India was at its lowest in the 2022-23 fiscal, with only 24.14 km per day on average. Official data showed that this figure is the lowest since 2017-18.
The ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) constructed 8,064 km of national highways (making it 24.14 km per day on average) in the previous financial year, up to February 28, 2023. Data analysed by News18 shows that between 2017-18 and 2021-22, the ministry constructed more than 27 km per day on average.
The ministry is yet to issue the annual national highway construction figures for the previous fiscal. An official told News18 that numerous factors impacted the pace of NH construction and unseasonal rain was one such major factor in 2022.
“Road construction for national highways is badly impacted during the monsoon. Further, in 2022, several parts of the country recorded extremely heavy rainfall even during the non-monsoon period. In March, too, we saw extreme and unusual rains across the country. These factors impact the pace of construction of national highways,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The official further said increase in prices of raw materials, mainly steel, also impacted the speed of highway construction. Bottlenecks related to land acquisition, statutory clearances or permissions, utility shifting, encroachment removal, law and order, non-availability of soil/aggregate, financial crunch of concessionaire or contractor, poor performance of the contractor and concessionaire, were other factors.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), in 2022, rainfall over the country as a whole was 108 percent of its long period average value based on the 1971-2020 period. It also said extreme weather events like extremely heavy rainfall, floods, and landslides were also experienced in different parts of the country in 2022. Also, in March, out of the 31 days, rainfall activity and thunderstorms were witnessed for 16 to 20 days across the country and a total of 100 events of heavy rainfall were reported.
MoRTH missing construction targets for past two years
The ministry has missed its construction targets since 2021-22. The year 2020-21 was an exception when it managed to surpass the targets. Against a target of 11,000 km set for the year that had the countrywide lockdown for weeks, the ministry managed to construct 13,227 km. In 2019-20, against a target of 11,000 km, the ministry managed to construct 10,237 km, as per the data.
Another official said the ministry had urged all the implementing agencies to make more efforts to achieve the higher construction target.
“Projects are reviewed at different levels to identify and resolve bottlenecks and issues adversely affecting progress… The Ministry has issued instructions to all implementing agencies to resolve issues/bottlenecks in close coordination with all stakeholders and expedite progress,” the official said, adding that for the current financial year, the ministry has set a target of 12,500 km.
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