The ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) has constructed a total of 4,060 km of national highways (NHs) this financial year up to October, according to Economic Survey 2022-23. It further said that there has been a drop of nearly nine per cent in highway construction this financial year when compared to the previous year.
In 2021-22, the ministry constructed 4,450 km up to October, according to official MoRTH documents. That means the per-day construction of roads in India has dropped from 20.79 km/per day in 2021-22 to 18.97 km/day in 2022-23 during the April-October period.
What Economic Survey shows
The Economic Survey released on Tuesday has considered data up to October as it says that in FY23, until October 2022, 4,060 km of NHs/roads were constructed “which was around 91 per cent of the achievement in the corresponding period of the previous financial year”.
The report further added that there has been an increase in the construction of national highways over time, with 10,457 km of roads constructed in FY22 as compared to 6,061 km in FY16.
It also said that the total budgetary support for investment in the sector has been increasing rapidly in the last four years and stood at around Rs 1.4 lakh crore during FY23 as of October 31, 2022.
Earlier this month, News18 reported that the pace of NH construction has nearly halved in India this financial year when compared to 2020-21. The ministry data shows that up to December 29, 2022 – the end of the third quarter – the ministry has constructed 5,337 km of national highways.
From 36.5 km/day in 2020-21, the pace of construction this year dropped to 19.5 km per day, official data analysed by News18 shows. In the 2020-21 financial year – which had the Covid-induced lockdown – the ministry constructed 13,327 km of national highways.
Speaking to New18, a ministry official said that there are a lot of reasons impacting road construction.
“It can range from land acquisition or monsoon, or even availability of raw material. The ministry is trying its best to maintain the high pace of NH (national highway) construction,” the official said, requesting anonymity.
Continuous drop in pace of NH construction since 2019
Further digging into MoRTH data shows that the pace of national highway construction has continuously dropped since 2019 for the April-October period. When compared to 2019, the pace of construction of NHs has dropped by nearly 21 per cent this financial year, MoRTH data analysed by News18 shows.
In 2019, during the April-October period, MoRTH constructed 5,126 km of national highways, making it average construction of 23.95 km/day. The next year, the ministry constructed 4,956 km of national highways during the April-October period, or on average 23.15 km/day. This was also the period when India witnessed a Covid-induced nationwide lockdown.
The next year, 2021, the pace of construction further slowed to 4,450 km for the said period. It was in April-May 2021 that the deadly second wave of the coronavirus hit India. This year, as per the Economic Survey, the pace of construction has further dropped.
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