Highway construction falls 20% on year in FY22

Highway construction fell by a fifth on year in 2021-22 at 29 km per day. The construction was far less than 40 km/day target set at the beginning of last fiscal. The achievement was also lower than the revised target of 33 km/day for the fiscal and 36.5 km a day achieved in 2020-21.

While highways have been one segment that has consistently been weathering the broader economy’s travails and even the pandemic shock in 2020-21, the fall in the pace of average daily construction in 2021-22 is mainly due to protracted rains and multiple cyclones that affected construction work in several southern states, analysts said. The second wave of the pandemic also hit construction.