NHAI achieves record 3,979 km highways construction in FY20

The NHAI has achieved record 3,979 km of highways construction in the just concluded fiscal, an official said.

The feat was achieved on the back of ambitious highways development programmes like Bharatmala Pariyojna.

"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 NHAI official told PTI.

The construction pace has seen a steady growth with 3,380 km construction in the FY 2018-19, the official said.

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

Under Phase-I of the programme, the government has approved implementation of 34,800 km of national highways projects with a very stiff target of 5 years with an outlay of Rs 5.35 lakh crore.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been mandated development of about 27,500 km of national highways under Bharatmala Pariyojna Phase-I.

The official said a large number of initiatives had been taken to accelerate the pace of highways construction which included reviving stalled projects, streamlining of land acquisition and acquisition of major portion of land prior to invitation of bids.

Besides the steps included 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 close coordination with other Ministries and State Governments.

In addition, to expedite projects review at various levels and identification/ removal of bottlenecks in project execution was done besides securitisation of road sector loans.

Besides, the official said disputes resolution mechanism was 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 official said.

Earlier, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has undertaken a series of meetings to iron out issues behind delays in highways construction.