Interestingly, the new additions to the national highway network are coming with an eye on elections. As many as five out of 14 new national highways are in surface transport minister Nitish Kumar's home state of Bihar.According to an official press release, the additional national highways will help provide better connectivity to ports, coastal areas and tourist centres, besides opening up backward areas.

Ministry sources added that the new additions needed to be brought to the two-lane national highway standards. This would require huge investment by the government. Some of them might be developed on build-operate-transfer basis.

"The four-lane option will come only if the traffic volume warrants it," said an official The states covered inthe current expansion of the national highway network are Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka.

The total length of the national highway network till 1996-97 was 34,298 km to which 4,219 km were added in 1997-98 and 11,068 km were added in January this year. According to the release, the present addition has been made keeping in mind the requirements of economy.

The ministry of surface transport can declare roads as national highways on its own or after receiving proposals from a state government.

Among the criteria for national highways are routes which have high traffic volumes or connect two national highways, states or places of tourist interest.

The Union ministry of surface transport is primarily responsible for construction and maintenance of national highways in the country. It executes works through the state public works departments or through the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Allroads other than national highways fall within the jurisdiction of respective state governments. However, according to government norms, the Central government also provides assistance to the state governments in their road development programmes in the form of loans for certain selected projects of inter-state or economic importance.