Capital Expenditure on National Highways has increased more than 4.5 times, from Rs 51,000 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 2.4 lakh crore in 2022-23, according to a written reply to the Lok Sabha shared by the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari during the winter session of the parliament. The minister presented the detailed yearly progress of the national highways developed during the past nine years.
According to the data, about 4,410 km of highways were constructed during 2014-15. These included 2,750 km of 2-lane highways followed by 733 km of 4-lane highways and 278 km of 6/8 lane highways. The strengthening of national highways increased almost 2.5-fold from 4,410 km in 2014-15 to 10,331 km in 2022-23. A major emphasis was placed on 6/8 lane highways in the country where about 1,341 km of such highways were added in 2022-23 alone.
The largest year-on-year growth in National Highways was registered in the years 2019-20 and 2020-21, where the government added 3,090 km extra in 2020-21 than the preceding year.
Emphasis on broad highways
Interestingly, the length of national highways has expanded from 91,287 km in March 2014 to 1,46,145 km at present. The length of 4-lane highways has increased 250 per cent from 18,371 km to 46,179 km. While 2-lane highways have been of posteriority to the government, and broadening a priority, 2 Lane NHs have decreased from about 27,517 km to about 14,870 km during the period which is now only about 10% of the NH network.
Greenfield Highways
The government has also added 3,336 km of green field access-corridor highways on 21 highways.
Budget allocation
The budget allocation to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was Rs 31,130 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 2.70 lakh crore in 2023-24, a nine-fold increase in 10 years.