To complete the remaining works under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, which has overshot the time and expenditure limits, a revised financing proposal is under preparation. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is developing a master plan for the national highways under Vision 2047.
Meanwhile, awarding of fresh projects has slowed down considerably since November last year.
The Bharatmala project entails a total length of 34,800 km in 31 states and union territories covering 550+ Districts. The length awarded is 26,425 km and the length constructed is 17,411 km so far. The program is expected to be completed by 2027-28 as against the earlier deadline of 2022, the MoRTH said in its annual report.
The initial cost of the project was Rs 6.92 trillion which included Rs 1.06 trillion investment by the private sector. Between 2017-18 and 2023-24 the total budgetary support has been Rs 8.37 trillion. Private sector has invested Rs 1.47 trillion. The key reasons for cost escalation are the higher prices paid for land and higher cost of construction.
Significant changes made in the scope of projects and cost estimates as well as richer project specifications adopted have pushed up the sanctioned cost of projects awarded. This has resulted in sanctioned civil cost being Rs 23.89 crore per km as against the Cabinet Committee Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved cost of Rs 13.98 crore per km and sanctioned pre-construction cost being Rs 8.28 crore per km as against the CCEA approved cost of Rs 1.39 crore per km.
Out of the total approved 27,391 km under the project so far, an aggregate length of 15,447 km have been approved on Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) mode, 11,537 km on Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) mode and 408 km on Build Operate Transfer BOT (Toll) mode. Share of EPC is 56%, HAM 42% and BoT 2%.
Beyond Bharatmala the Master plan for the National Highways is being developed in line with the Vision 2047 of MoRTH. The vision seeks to provide access to high-speed corridor within 100 – 150 km to all citizens, rank India amongst top 10 countries in G20 for high-speed corridor density, and reduce logistics costs as a percentage of GDP. Other guiding principles of the vision is equitable access to National Highways in under-developed regions and improved passenger convenience with world class amenities.
Further, the government has adopted a corridor-based highway infrastructure development approach as compared to the earlier project-based development approach, focused on addressing stretches of local congestion. This corridor approach has led to the identification of a network of 50,000 km of High-Speed Highway Corridors through a scientific transport study based on Goods and Service Tax (GST) network and toll data.