Centre rolls out ₹15 Lakh-cr road & highway plans

The Centre has decided to invest ₹15 lakh cores in the country's highways sectors in the next five-years as part of its plans to boost road infrastructure across the country. This includes Bharatmala projects, expressways, widening of existing highways by converting two lanes to four and four lanes to eight lanes, said MoRTH in an official statement. The ministry is contemplating generating a large chunk of funds from toll revenue. With the toll collection per day increasing by 25 to 30% after NHAI mandating compulsory usage of fastag, the government expecting revenue increase from toll collection from current ₹9,000 crore per annum to ₹40,000 crore in the next five years. Of the total 1.4 lakh km of highways under NHAI, 24,996 km are currently under the toll ambit and the length will go up to 27,000 km by the end of this fiscal. Once the toll revenue increases, the road projects will get loans from banks and raise money from markets.