In a written response to a query in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, revealed a substantial growth in India’s national highways network. The network has expanded from approximately 91,287 km in March 2014 to about 1,46,145 km presently.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has experienced a significant increase in budgetary allocation, playing a vital role in the expansion and development of the National Highways (NHs) network. The budget, which was around Rs. 31,130 crore in 2013-14, has surged to Rs. 2,70,435 crore in 2023-24. This financial boost has led to a substantial rise in capital expenditure on NHs, from Rs. 51,000 crore in 2013-14 to Rs. 2,40,000 crore in 2022-23.
This increased budget has driven the development of the national highway network across states like Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and the north-eastern states.
Notably, the four-lane plus national highway network, including high-speed corridors, has seen exponential growth, expanding from about 18,371 km in March 2014 to 46,179 km at present. Simultaneously, the length of less than two lane national highways has decreased from approximately 27,517 km in March 2014 to about 14,870 km, constituting only about 10% of the total network.
The ministry has prioritized the development of greenfield high-speed corridors, with 21 greenfield access-controlled corridors already in progress and approximately 3,336 km of work already completed.
These developments have significantly improved connectivity and accessibility to NHs across the country, resulting in enhanced logistics efficiency. The ministry has completed various flagship projects, including the Delhi-Dausa-Lalsaut section, the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway section in Madhya Pradesh, and the Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar section in Rajasthan.
Ongoing projects include the Vadodara-Mumbai Section of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, Bengaluru Ring Road, Raipur-Vishakhapatnam Economic Corridor, Char Dham Projects in Uttarakhand, Trans Arunachal Highway in Arunachal Pradesh, and Imphal-Moreh section in Manipur.