Building nearly 21 km of national highways per day on average, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) is showing improvement when compared to the April-October period from 2022-23. However, the pace of awarding new projects has dropped drastically, official data shows.
Till October, the ministry had awarded 2,595 km of national highways and constructed 4,474 km.
“The Ministry has constructed 4,474 km of National Highways up to October in 2023-24 as compared to 4,060 km constructed up to October in 2022-23,” a MoRTH document seen by News18 reads.
Compared to last year’s April-October period, while the pace of road building has improved, the length of awarding projects has dropped to nearly half. Last year, 5,007 km of national highway projects were awarded.
“lf the target for award has to be met for this year, decision on the proposal for approval of the revised Bharatmala Phase-l or alternate programme needs to be taken expeditiously. Shortfall in award this year will reflect in the progress of construction in the FY 2024-25,” the ministry has informed the union cabinet, as per the document.
The slow pace of awarding has been going on for the past few months. Against the 2,706 km awarded last year up to the end of August in 2022-23, this time it was only 1,756 km. By September, it had improved to 2,286 km but was much below the 4,092 km awarded last year for the same period.
Falling behind
The ministry aims to build 37 kilometres of national highway per day as it has set a target of 13,800 km for this financial year. However, it has managed to build around 21 km per day up to October. While it is an improvement from last year’s number, it is below the first quarter figures.
In the first quarter, April-June period, MoRTH was building about 25 km of national highways per day on average.
64% capex achieved
As of the end of October, the ministry had managed to spend 64 per cent of the total Gross Budget Support (GBS), the document shows.
By the end of September, the ministry had spent 62.7 per cent of the GBS, and till August, this amount was just 44 per cent.
The total capex outlay for MoRTH in the current financial year is Rs 2.58 lakh crore.
“Up to October 31, the ministry has spent Rs 1.66 lakh crore,” a ministry official told News18 on the condition of anonymity
Due to the Lok Sabha elections likely to be held in the last quarter of this financial year, the ministry aims to achieve around 80 per cent of the capex by the end of December.
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