Highway construction in the country declined by 10% during the April-October period of the current fiscal to 4,450 km, compared with 4,956 km in the corresponding period last fiscal, as protracted monsoon showers played spoilsport in many areas.
“Prolonged monsoons have affected the productive days for an extended period in the current financial year when compared to last year, which affected the pace of execution. We have seen good monsoon even in October this year,” Icra’s Rajeshwar Burla said. The ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) has set an ambitious target of 40 km per day of highway construction for the current fiscal, compared with the daily average of 36.4 km achieved in 2020-21. As against this, the construction was just 21.2 km in April-October.
On May 1, Union minister Nitin Gadkari had said the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) would be constructing highways worth Rs 15 lakh crore in the next two years.
