MoRTH targets 6,000-km roads under Bharatmala

According to the Secretary of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and the Chairman of National Highways Authority of India, Giridhar Aramane, the government has targeted to build 6,000 km road length of Bharatmala projects and they will be awarded in FY22 itself. The Principal Economic Adviser, Sanjeev Sanyal informed that the government does intend to keep up with its expenditure program and the roads and highways sector is going to be important for the growth in near future.

Investment in the sector has been picking up and there is an unlocking of more funds with the NHAI's infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) that the market is also awaiting. There has been no problem so far because of the good work done over the last 1.5-2 years by the board of NHAI and the Standing Finance Committee of the ministry. The pipeline with solid viable projects is going to give good achievement this year also.

According to Aramane, the ministry's total target for FY22 is around 6,000 km because most greenfield highways are in advance stages; either they have been awarded, under construction or underbidding. So, the ministry is likely to award most of the greenfield highways by the year-end. There will be 2-3 access-controlled highways (limited and designated entry and exit points), which will be pending for the next financial year. The targeted length of Bharatmala projects, costing about ₹2.5 lakh crore, will be awarded this year and it will also involve a lot of private investment as the hybrid annuity model (HAM) has become the favourite of the developers.