NHAI hastens 30 road projects worth ₹30,000-cr

To kick start the new highways ministry’s program of completing at least one road project every two days as part of the 100-day plan, NHAI has decided to commission 60 road projects involving an investment of ₹30,000 crore. While NHAI is likely to complete 30 projects including the four-laning of road works in Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam and Odisha, it has also identified equal number of projects, which are mostly widening of existing highways to two lanes with paved shoulder (roughly two-and-a-half lanes). NHAI has set the target to award 2,500 km of highways including the trans-Rajasthan highway and a major bridge along Sharavati’s backwaters in Karnataka. While the focus will be on finding new avenues to get long-term fund to carry out expansions, the ministry is confident of pushing the pace of construction further. There will be a marathon review meeting of all highways projects where issues relating to land availability and financing will be discussed.