The Central government could not achieve the target set for the construction of national highways in the last financial year 2022-23. The government was able to construct only 10,993 km of national highways this year against a target of 12,500 km.
This way, the government could build 30 km of highways every day. However, there has been considerable success in awarding contracts for National Highway projects.
According to the data of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in 2022-23, the government had set a target of constructing 12,500 km of national highways. That is, every day the government had to build 34.24 km of highways. But the target could not be achieved.
According to statistics, by March 31, 2023, a total of 10,993 km of highways could be constructed. This way, the government was able to build 30.11 km of highways on average per day.
A senior official said in the last financial year 2022-23, 12,357 km-long national highway projects were awarded whose average per day is 33.85 km.
He said during the Corona epidemic, the government had constructed a record 13,327 km of highways, that is 37 kilometers of highways were built every day.
Similarly, 10,457 km (26.64 km per day) of national highways were constructed in 2021-22 and 10,237 km (28 km per day) in 2019-20.
The official informed that due to delays in decision-making by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials and other reasons, the target fixed in highway construction could not be achieved in the last financial year.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari claimed through a tweet in 2022 that the target of constructing a record 50 km of national highways per day in the year 2022-23 would be achieved. That is, a target was set to construct 18,250 km of highways this year.