Budget 2021: Highways ministry seeks nearly 40% hike in FY22 allocation

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has sought a budgetary allocation of Rs 1.4 trillion for the next fiscal year (FY22), nearly 40 per cent higher than the FY21 allocation. The funds would be used to step up highway construction in the country.

The ministry was allocated Rs 91,823 crore for FY21, which was later revised to Rs 1.02 trillion as MoRTH and its wings — the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) — were on track with road construction despite Covid-19 induced lockdowns.

The allocation has gone up from Rs 83,015 crore last fiscal year to Rs 91,823.2 crore for the current year. Of this hike of Rs 8,808 crore, as much as Rs 5,809 crore is through investment in the NHAI, met by monetising national highways. The remainder is for road works.

Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari recently said his ministry aims to take the road building target to 40 km a day by March. The NHAI has a target to build 60,000 km of highways in the next five years, including 2,500 km of expressways. These include 9,000 km of economic corridors, and 2,000 km each of strategic border roads and coastal roads. Besides these, 100 tourist destinations and 45 towns would be connected through highways.

Also the share of engineering, procurement and construction projects, or government-funded projects, was 60 per cent in the total project mix for the NHAI last year.

The NHAI accomplished construction of 3,979 km of national highways in FY20.

The government has envisaged an ambitious highway development programme — Bharatmala Pariyojana — which includes developing about 65,000 km of highways.

Under Phase-I of the programme, the government has approved the implementation of 34,800 km of highway projects with a target of five years and an outlay of Rs 5.35 trillion.

The NHAI has mandated the development of about 27,500 km of highways under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I. The NHIDCL has a target of completing 750 km of roads in hilly regions and the northeast, and it is expected to meet the goal by the end of FY21.