The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is sitting over a huge debt of Rs 1.78 lakh crore as of 2019, up from Rs 40,000 crore in 2014, with reports stating that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has flagged major concerns over the future of many ambitious highway projects due to NHAI’s poor financial health.
According to reports, the PMO sent a letter signed by Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, addressed to Sanjeev Ranjan, secretary, ministry of road transport and highways, which said, “NHAI was totally log jammed by an unplanned and excessive expansion of roads and it is mandated to pay much higher costs for land acquisition and construction”.
