Govt Pledges To Construct 18,000 Kms Of National Highways In Next 12 Months: 50Kms/Day Is The Target!

Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said that the government aims to construct 18,000 km of highways in 2022-23 in order to expand the national highway network across the country.

Positive Impact

It will do so at a record speed of 50 km per day.

Its overall target is to develop 2 lakh km of National Highway Network by 2025.

Expanding the national highways network will help the country boost trade and commerce and create sustainable employment opportunities for the youth.

Time Bound And Target Oriented

Gadkari stressed that constructing world class road infrastructure must be done in a time bound and target oriented way.

This is essential since road infrastructure is the ‘Atma’ of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and as such will have a transformational impact on the socio-economic prosperity of the people.

National highway construction slowed to 28.64 km a day in 2021-22 due to the pandemic and a longer-than-usual monsoon in some parts of the country.

The pace had touched a record 37 km per day in 2020-21.

World’s 2nd Largest Road Network

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) are the bodies responsible for the construction of national highways and expressways across the country.

India has the second largest road network in the world of about 63.72 lakh kilometres, consisting of NHs, expressways, state highways (SHs), major district roads, other district roads and village roads.

Address Road Safety

Gadkari has asked his ministry’s officials to work on reducing accidents by half in two years.

They have also been told to identify black spots on the roads where mishaps occur frequently.

He stressed the need to address issues of road safety since it is a very serious issue.

Time To Take Action

He also called for zero tolerance for road accidents.

He has instructed senior officials to formulate and implement strategies and solutions put forward by SaveLIFE Foundation to improve road safety as fast as possible.

According to him, three things have to be considered when taking action- the immediate steps, mid-term measures, and long-term action.