‘Increase In National Highway Network From 91,287 Km In 2014 To About 146,145 Km At Present’: Union Minister Gadkari

National Highways network in the country has increased from about 91,287 km in March, 2014 to about 146,145 km at present, said Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (13 December).

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of national highways (NHs).

Ministry has laid focus on development of high-speed access controlled corridors and four-lane road network in order to contribute towards development of economy through improved logistics efficiency.

Length of four-lane and the NH network including high speed corridors has increased from about 18,371 km in March, 2014 to about 46,179 km so far. Project implementation has already been started on 21 green field access-controlled corridors including expressways in which work in about 3,336 km length has been completed.

Ministry has also emphasised on minimising less than two-lane NHs by upgrading these to minimum two-lane or two-lane with paved shoulder.

Accordingly, length of less than two-lane NHs has decreased from about 27,517 km in March, 2014 to about 14,870 km so far.

Ministry has identified 35 Multimodal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) for development as part of the plan to improve logistics efficiency to the Indian economy. 15 MMLPs have been prioritised for development under BMP-I.

The Ministry has also undertaken green initiatives by planting about 3.46 core trees since 2016, besides utilising municipal waste for embankment construction, waste plastics in Bituminous construction and waste slag in cement concrete construction towards carbon neutrality and sustainable development.

The Ministry resolved the inherited stalled projects (stalled projects till 2013-14) by close monitoring at the highest levels and also by suitable policy interventions like one time fund infusion, substitution, termination and repackaging, among other things.

Key strategies adopted to achieve the remarkable growth and achievements of NH network in the country undertaken by the Ministry include promoting contractor’s ecosystem by rationalising the projects and contract documents.

All project planning, including preparation of detailed project report, is as mandated on the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) portal and awarding projects is being done after adequate preparation in terms of land acquisition and preconstruction activities.

Streamlining land acquisition process and adoption of new technologies and continuously upgrading the standards and specifications, are other initiatives undertaken to achieve growth in the road sector.

Additionally, raising resources from innovative financing models etc and relaxations in contract provisions under "Atmanirbhar Bharat" to improve liquidity of funds and also the revamped dispute resolution mechanism are other factors responsible for the growth.