Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav: 7-fold rise in national highways construction

NEW DELHI: The Centre has done a remarkable job in constructing well-connected network of highways and is constantly upgrading the same.


There has been a 7-fold rise in highway construction from 1950-51 to 2021-22.

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 pace of annual construction of four, six and eight lane national highways (NHs) has increased by more than 300% during the past seven years - from merely 1,289 km in 2015-16 to 3,963 km during 2021-22, government data show.




This is set to increase further as the agencies under the road transport and highways ministry, particularly, NHAI, are now more focused on construction of economic corridors and expressways, officials said.

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.