NHAI rolls out ₹1 trillion plan to connect 117 districts

The Union transport ministry has unveiled an ambitious ₹1 trillion national highway network to build 5,795km of highways across 117 aspirational districts. The ministry has already identified 221 projects for expansion, in addition to the 5,566km of highways already being built in these districts, comprising 222 projects costing ₹66,000 crore. In totality, NHAI will spend a total of ₹1.04 trillion on the new highway projects. The four-year-old aspirational districts program aims to quickly transform the least developed districts through the convergence of central and state schemes, the collaboration of central and state level officials will joint award district level rankings. Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Odisha will get the lion share of the highway projects among these districts. Among the laggards are Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan and some northeastern states. According to data from MoRTH, all aspirational districts are already linked by highways, and the expansion will further boost economic activity in these areas. About 6,575km of national highways have been constructed in the past five years, connecting aspirational districts. Combined with ongoing and upcoming projects, the total length of the national highway network in these districts would expand to more than 18,000-km over the next five years. The aspirational districts program, with states as the main drivers, focuses on the strength of each district, identifying road stretches for immediate improvement and measuring their progress by ranking districts on a monthly basis.