Highway construction slows to 19 km/day during April-August: Ministry

The pace of national highway construction in the country has slowed to 19 km per day during the first five months of the current financial year, according to official data.

While the pace of national highway (NH) construction in the country had touched a record 37 km per day in 2020-21, it had slowed to 28.64 km a day in 2021-22, due to pandemic-related disruptions and a longer-than-usual monsoon in some parts of the country.

"The Ministry has constructed 2,912 km of National Highways up to August 2022, as compared to 3,355 km up to August last year. The Award figure is 2,706 km during this period as compared to 3,261 km in the previous year," the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said in its monthly summary for the Cabinet for August 2022.

According to the ministry data, the award figure is 2,706 km during April-August this year, as compared to 3,261 km in the corresponding period a year ago.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) are primarily responsible for the construction of national highways and expressways across the country.

The official target of highway construction has been kept at 12,000 km for the current financial year.

The ministry had constructed 10,237 km in 2019-20, 13,327 km in 2020-21 and 10,457 km in 2021-22.