NHAI constructs highest ever total of 3,979 km national highways in FY20

Amid the coronavirus gloom is a positive news on the road construction front as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday announced it has completed constructing 3979 km of highways in the financial year 2019-20.

“NHAI has accomplished construction of 3,979 km of national highways in the financial Year 2019-20.  This is the highest ever highway construction achieved in a financial year by NHAI,” an official statement said.

However, the authority stopped short of meeting its target of 4500 km for the current fiscal, which effectively translates into 12.32 km per day as against the accomplishment of 10.9 km per day.

According to sources, internally NHAI does not have any per day construction target.

NHAI said that the construction pace as noticed in last years has seen a steady growth with 3,380 Km construction in the FY 2018-19.  Continuing the same trend with the development of 3,979 km of national highways during FY 2019-20, NHAI has achieved an all-time high construction since its inception in 1995, the official release claimed.

The government has envisaged a very ambitious highway development programme namely Bharatmala Pariyojana which includes development of about 65,000 km national highways.

Under Phase-I of Bharatmala Pariyojana, the Government has approved implementation of 34,800 km of national highways with a very stiff target of 5 years with an outlay of  Rs 5,35,000 crore.  NHAI has been mandated development of about 27,500 km of national highways under Bharatmal Pariyojna Phase-I.

In order to accelerate the pace of construction, large no. of initiatives have been taken to revive the stalled projects and expedite completion of new projects, the authority said

The initiatives include streamlining of land acquisition and acquisition of major portion of land prior to invitation of bids, award of projects after adequate project preparation in terms of land acquisition, clearances etc, disposal of cases in respect of Change of Scope (CoS) and Extension of Time (EoT) in a time bound manner and procedure for approval of General Arrangement Drawing for ROBs simplified and made online.   

The authority said it works in close coordination with other Ministries and State Governments, resorted to one time fund infusion and regular review at various levels and identification/ removal of bottlenecks in project execution.

It also proposed exit for Equity Investors, securitization of road sector loans, disputes resolution mechanism revamped to avoid delays in completion of projects. 

“With the increased pace of highway development, NHAI has achieved construction of 3,979 of national highways in FY 2019-20 and is committed to provide a smooth ride on national highways in the country,” the statement added.