Enhanced budgetary allocation for highways to speed up projects: Official

Enhanced budgetary allocation for the highways sector will help in faster implementation of projects, a top official said

Enhanced budgetary allocation for the highways sector will help in faster implementation of projects, a top highways ministry official said on Thursday.

The Union Budget 2021-22 has provided an enhanced outlay of Rs 1.18 lakh crore for the highways sector.

"There is about 30 per cent increase in the allocation to the highways sector. The projects are going to be sanctioned in the next two to three months and enhanced allocation will help faster execution of projects," Road Transport and Highways Secretary Giridhar Aramane told PTI.

Aramane further said the ministry will spend the entire allocation during the stipulated timeframe.

An allocation of Rs 91,823 crore was made for the highways sector for 2020-21, which was revised to Rs 1.01 lakh crore.

"I am... providing an enhanced outlay of Rs 1,18,101 lakh crore for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, of which Rs 1,08,230 crore is for capital, the highest ever," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said while tabling the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament on February 1.

Hailing the budget, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had said that flagship corridors and other important projects would see considerable activity in 2021-22.

More than 13,000 kms of roads at a cost of Rs 3.3 lakh crore have already been awarded under the Rs 5.35-lakh crore Bharatmala Pariyojana, of which 3,800 kms have been constructed.

By March 2022, the government said it would be awarding another 8,500 kms and complete an additional 11,000 kms of national highway corridors.

The flagship projects that are to be expedited include Delhi-Mumbai Expressway; while for the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, construction will begin in 2021-22.

The Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor work will be initiated in the current financial year, while the Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway project will commence in 2021-22.

Likewise, a 277-km Chennai-Salem corridor will be awarded soon and construction would start next fiscal. In addition, the 464-km Raipur-Visakhapatnam project passing through Chhattisgarh, Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh will be awarded in the current year and construction will start in 2021-22.

Construction for Amritsar-Jamnagar and Delhi-Katra projects will also commence in 2021-22.