The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), on an average, built more than 21 kilometers of national highway per day in the first two months of the financial year 2024-25.
A Ministry document, seen by News18, also revealed that it incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 57,925 crore till May 31, accounting for about 42.55% of Capital Outlay under the vote on account provision for the first five months of 2024-25.
In total, in the 61-day period between April 1 and May 31, the Ministry constructed 1,288 km of national highways, little lower than last year’s 1,465 km for the same period. In the first two months of the financial year 2022-23, the Ministry had built 1,307 km of national highway.
On account of project awarding, just four km of national highway was approved in the last two months. “Due to the imposition of Model Code of Conduct (MCC), projects could not be awarded, except one project of four km, with the approval of Election Commission of India (ECI), during this period, compared to 382 km during the period in previous year,” the document reads.
The Lok Sabha polls were announced in March and were held in April and May. The results were announced on June 4. The MCC was imposed between March 16 and June 4 and no new project could be approved in the period without ECI’s approval. However, work on approved projects can continue.
In the last financial year, 2023-24, up to October, the pace of national highway building was 21 km per day. It improved to 34 km per day by March.
In 2023-24, the Ministry constructed 12,349 km of national highway in total, higher than the previous two years.
Usually, the first three months, April to June, of the financial year are considered important for setting the pace of highway building. Towards the end of June, the monsoon covers the country, and the pace of road building is impacted until September-October. It is mostly between November and March that road building picks up pace again.
Higher Expectations
The ministry, this year, has to deal with two of its records – highway building and capital expenditure. In 2023-24, in a first, the road ministry’s actual capital expenditure, including that from private investment, crossed Rs 3 lakh crore. It is about 25% higher from 2022-23’s Rs 2.41 lakh crore, also a record.
The complete Budget for this financial year will be presented next month. In April, when the interim budget 2024-25 was tabled, MoRTH turned out to be the Ministry with the second highest allocation of Rs 2.78 lakh crore, only after defence.
So far, the pace of road building, achieved in 2023-24, was the second best in the history of the Ministry. The highest was 13,327 km achieved in the year 2020-21, when the Covid-induced lockdown was imposed.
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