National Highway construction to see a slump due to subdued project awarding

The government expects a decline in national highway construction and widening over the next two years due to a decrease in new project awards in 2023-24 and 2024-25. With no new highway construction programme in place and the road transport ministry instructed not to approve any new projects under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, the pace of project awarding has slowed. Nevertheless, the ministry is optimistic about surpassing the goal of constructing 10,400 km of NHs in 2024-25. It aims to reach 11,000 km soon, 4,000 km more than the current 7,000 km. The award of NH projects was around 4,100 till the third week of January, slightly more than in the previous year. The government has now revised its award target to around 8,000 km.