THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS
(SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)
(a) and (b) The Ministry had taken up detailed review of National Highways (NHs) network with a view to develop the road connectivity to Border areas, development of Coastal roads including road connectivity for Non-Major ports, improvement in the efficiency of National Corridors, development of Economic Corridors, Inter Corridors and Feeder Routes along with integration with Sagarmala, etc., under “Bharatmala Pariyojana”. Under this proposal, the Ministry has identified stretches for development of about 26,200 km length of Economic Corridors, 8,000 km of Inter Corridors, 7,500 km of Feeder Routes, 5,300 km Border and International connectivity roads, 4,100 km Coastal and Port connectivity roads, 1,900 km Expressways, National Corridor Efficiency improvement by development of ring roads around 28 cities, decongestion of about 125 choke points and 66 congestion points, development of 35 nos. of Multimodal Logistics Parks.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the proposal for investment approval for Phase-I of “Bharatmala Pariyojana” during its meeting held on 24.10.2017. “Bharatmala Pariyojana” Phase–I includes development of about 9,000 km length of Economic corridors, about 6,000 km length of Inter-corridor and feeder roads, about 5,000 km length of National Corridors Efficiency improvements, about 2,000 km length of Border and International connectivity roads, about 2,000 km length of Coastal and port connectivity roads, about 800 km length of Expressways and balance length of about 10,000 km of roads under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) for total estimated investment of Rs. 5,35,000 crore. The overall Financing Plan for 2017-18 to 2021-22 for Bharatmala Parioyojana Phase-I and other schemes under Central Road Sector envisages total investment of about Rs. 6,92,324 crores. The Phase-I of Bharatmala Parioyojana is scheduled for completion in 2021-22.
246 projects in about 10,100 km length for total cost of Rs. 2,38,413 crore have been awarded so far under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase–I including subsumed NHDP.
The targets and achievements for completion of NHs / road lengths under various NHs / road development schemes since 2017-18 are as follows.
Year 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
Targets (km) 15,000 10,000 11,000
Achievements (km) 9,829 10,855 7,925(Till January 2020)
Some NH projects are delayed due to multiple reasons, such as poor performance of contractor, utility shifting, delay in environment/ forest clearance, land acquisition, cash flow problem of the concessionaire/ contractor, law and order problems, etc.
Government holds regular review meetings at various levels with Regional Officers, State Governments and Concessionaires/ Contractors to resolve the issues and ensure completion of projects within stipulated time. Further, various steps such as streamlining of land acquisition, one time fund infusion, close coordination with other Ministries, revamping of dispute resolution mechanism, etc. have been taken up.
(c) to (e) The Government had approved the proposal for declaration of about 7,200 km length of State Roads as NHs in February, 2014 to facilitate connectivity to the District Headquarters with the NHs and few stretches from the strategic consideration. Since then, about 11,870 km length of State Roads have been declared as NHs for providing connectivity to District Headquarters. 30 districts so far have not been linked through NHs.
The Ministry considers declaration of some State Roads as new NHs from time to time based on requirement of connectivity, inter-se priority and availability of funds.
The development and maintenance of NHs is a continuous process and works on NHs are, accordingly, taken up as per inter-se-priority, progress of ongoing works, availability of funds and traffic density.
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