India has the second largest road network in the world, with about 63.32 lakh km of roads as of March 2019. This is a remarkable increase from about 54.02 lakh km in March 2014. The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, shared this information in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today.
He added, that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has received a significant boost in its budgetary allocation, from about Rs. 31,130 crore in 2013-14 to Rs. 2,76,351 crore in 2023-24. The capital expenditure on National Highways (NHs) has also increased manifold, from about Rs. 51,000 crore in 2013-14 to more than Rs. 2,40,000 crore in 2022-23.
Quality and standards
The NH network length in the country has grown by 1.6 times, from 91,287 km in March 2014 to 1,46,145 km at present. The quality of roads has also improved substantially, with the length of 4 lane and above NH network increasing by more than 2.5 times, from 18,371 km in 2014 to 46,720 km. The share of less than 2 lane NHs has reduced from 30% to 10% of the total NH network, with the length decreasing from 27,517 km to 14,350 km.
The Ministry has decided to focus on the development of High Speed Access controlled NHs for improving the logistics efficiency of the country. It has also adopted a policy to improve all NHs as per the traffic requirement, but with a minimum standard of Two Lane with paved shoulders, except for the ecologically sensitive Himalayan region, where the development plan is finalised considering the geological and environmental factors.
Projects and corridors
The Ministry has started the implementation of 21 green field access-controlled corridors, including expressways, in which work in about 3,658 km length has been completed. It has also completed various flagship projects or their sections, which are already opened to traffic, to enable ease of movement. Some of these include:
- Delhi-Dausa – Lalsaut section (229 km) and entire section in Madhya Pradesh (210km) of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway
- Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar (470 km) in the State of Rajasthan
- Suryapet – Khammam section of Hyderabad-Vishakhapatnam
- Indore-Hyderabad (175 km)
- New Brahamputra Bridge near Tejpur in Assam on NH-37A(old)
- Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project in Mizoram
- Shillong Nongstoin-Tura section of NH-44E & NH 127B in Meghalaya
Several other flagship corridors of the Ministry are also in progress, such as:
- Vadodara – Mumbai Section of Delhi – Mumbai Expressway
- Raipur – Vishakhapatnam Economic Corridor
- Char Dham Projects in Uttarakhand
- Trans Arunachal Highway (NH-13, NH-15 and NH-215) in Arunachal Pradesh
- Imphal-Moreh section in the Manipur
- Dimapur – Kohima section
Logistics and environment
The Ministry has identified 35 Multimodal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) for development as part of Bharatmala Pariyojna (BMP) to improve the logistics efficiency of the Indian economy. 15 MMLPs have been prioritized for development under BMP Phase-1.
The Ministry has also undertaken green initiatives by planting about 3.46 crore trees since 2016, besides utilizing municipal waste for embankment construction, waste plastics in Bituminous construction and waste slag in Cement Concrete Construction towards carbon neutrality and sustainable development.