At 19 km/day, FY23 highway construction way short of Gadkari's target: Data

Marred by unstable rains and floods in parts of the country, the cumulative pace of highway construction continued its decline for a second straight financial year, data released by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) shows. 

While the ministry of road transport and highways aims for a record 50 km/day construction target, it has only been able to execute 19 kilometres (kms)/day till August.

"The Ministry has constructed 2,912 km of National Highways up to August 2022, as compared to 3,355 km up to August last year. The Award figure is 2,706 km during this period as compared to 3,261 km in the previous year," the ministry said.

While monsoons are a lean period for construction, during the peak of 2020-21, the ministry had achieved 3508 km of highway development. 

Experts say that unusually long monsoons and floods in parts of the country could have had an impact on the construction of highways. 

The decline in highway construction pace comes amid a backdrop of reduced expectations and targets. Last fiscal year, the ministry, in an attempt to top its record 13,000-km annual construction in 2020-21, kept a target of 14,000 km. However, it had to later revise the same to 12,000 kms, which it also could not achieve.

The ministry ended up executing 10,237 km of highways at roughly 28 km/day in FY22. This fiscal year, while the official target is 12,000 km, union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari previously said that his aspirational target is 18,000 kms.

Barring May, the ministry has fallen behind against its last year’s numbers in every month (see chart). Sector watchers say that while 18,000 kms look out of sight now, it’s too soon to say whether the ministry will also miss out on its stated 12,000-km target, since highway construction typically gathers a higher momentum during the second half of the fiscal year.

Meanwhile, awarding has also fallen by 556 kms so far this financial year. The National Highways Authority of India has a target to award between 6,000-6,500 kms of highway projects this year, mainly from the Bharatmala pipeline, as it faces a two-year internal target to award over 13,000 kms of remaining highway projects from the ministry’s flagship scheme.