Infrastructure Sector to See Pre-Poll Boost in FY 2023-24
Vinod Behl

In 2022, the major dampener was the road & highway sector - an important component of the PM Gati Shakti Programme. Only 4,766 kms of the targeted 12,000 km of highways for FY23 were built during April-November 2022 period, marking a decline of nearly 7% from the 5,118 km in the same period last year.
With this slow pace of highway development, NHAI faces an uphill task of constructing more than 50 kms of roads a day during the remainder months of FY23. The road transport and highway sector has a maximum number of delayed projects at 358 out of a total number of 769 delayed projects, leading to cost escalation. That road construction has gone into a slow lane, is also reflected by the bid premium for majority of the projects awarded in FY22, which fell to a mere 3-5% against the 10-20% road tenders over the previous 5 years.