With nearly 22 km of national highway built per day on an average in the current financial year up to November, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has reached its best performance in the last three years, but the awarding of projects has reported a significant drop.
Up to November 30, 2023, MoRTH has built 5,248 km of national highway, higher than last year’s 4,766 km for the same period. In 2021-22, the Ministry built 5,118 km of national highway between April 1 and November 30. However, the road building pace is slower when compared to the pandemic year 2020 and from the pre-COVID-era data up to November.
In November, News18 had reported that the MoRTH has informed the Union Cabinet that if the target for award has to be met for this year, decision on the proposal for approval of the revised Bharatmala Phase-l or alternate programme needs to be taken up expeditiously.
“Shortfall in award this year will reflect in the progress of construction in the FY 2024-25,” the ministry had said.
Up to November 30, the Ministry has awarded just 2,816 km of national highway projects – much lower than the numbers from 2022-23 (5,382 km) and 2021-22 (5,578 km) for the same period.
The Ministry aims to build 13,800 km of national highway during this financial year – making it about 38 km per day. By that pace, the Ministry should have constructed nearly 9,200 km of national highway by November-end. However, it managed only 5,248 km.
Speaking to News18, a Ministry official explained that the pace of road building is impacted during the monsoon across the country.
“Monsoon has a drastic impact on road building so during the mid-part of the financial year, the pace is usually not what is expected. We are hopeful that we will achieve the target set for the year,” the official said, demanding anonymity.
EXPENDITURE ON TRACK
Due to the Lok Sabha elections likely to be held in the last quarter of this financial year, the ministry will try to achieve around 80% of the capex by December-end.
The total Gross Budget Support (GBS) outlay for the Ministry this financial year stood at Rs 2.58 lakh crore and up to November 30, the Ministry has spent 66% (Rs 1.69 lakh crore) of the total amount. By the end of October, the ministry managed to spend 64% of the total GBS and at the end of September it was 62.7%.
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