Datanomics: Gujarat bridge collapse highlights infrastructure faultlines

The recent collapse of the Gambhira bridge in Gujarat, which killed 17 and injured nine people, highlights a broader crisis in India’s infrastructure, particularly in urban areas. Between 2019 and 2024, 5,015 structural collapse incidents were reported across India, with 91 per cent involving dwelling houses or residential buildings (until 2022), 5.4 per cent official or commercial buildings, and 1.9 per cent bridges. India has around 163,207 public infrastructure assets—railway bridges, national highway bridges, and dams—of which 30.2 per cent are over a century old. While absolute spending on the maintenance of bridges and tunnels by the Railways, highways by the Union Road Transport Ministry, and leading airports has increased until FY24, it has declined as a share of total expenditure within their respective ministries or sectors.

 

 

Of the 43 structural collapse incidents reported in India in 2024, bridges accounted for the highest number (27 cases), followed by official or commercial buildings (6), airports (5), and dams (5). Data on residential buildings were available until 2022 only.

 

 

Among India’s 150,746 railway bridges, 25.8 per cent are over a century old. Of the 5,745 dams, 4.1 per cent are more than 100 years old, while just 0.3 per cent of the 6,716 national highway bridges fall into that category.

 

 

Maintenance expenditure on railway bridge works and tunnels, as a share of total railway expenditure, rose from 0.18 per cent in FY19 to 0.24 per cent in FY21, but dropped to 0.12 per cent in FY24. Similarly, maintenance expenditure on national highways as a share of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' expenditure increased from 2.1 per cent to 6 per cent during the same period, before falling to 2.4 per cent.