NHAI on a make-over drive to achieve targets

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) which has completed construction of nearly 1,900 km of highways in the current financial year, is on an overdrive to complete the remaining 57 percent of its laid down targets in the next three months, said sources. NHAI had set an ambitious target of 4,462-km road construction for the current fiscal under the first phase of Bharatmala Pariyojana. It may be able to finish the fiscal with around 4,000 km. For the current financial year, it has set a target of awarding 7,800 km of highway projects, subject to pre-construction clearance, land availability and project viability. In 2018-19, NHAI awarded 5,493 km of national highways and constructed 3,320 km of them. The target of project award for the current fiscal is over 40 percent higher than what was awarded last year, while the estimate for construction is 34 percent more than what was achieved in the previous fiscal. The remaining months of the fiscal are likely to witness a faster pace of road construction. NHAI is one of the implementing agencies for execution of Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I, which the government had approved in October 2017 with an aggregate length of about 34,800 km, including 10,000 km residual NHDP (National Highway Development Project) stretches, at an estimated outlay of Rs 5.35 lakh crore. The government aims to complete the first phase by 2021-22.