A sharp rise in commodity prices has taken a toll on the construction of highways. In the first two months of the current fiscal, the pace of highway construction stood at just 21 km a day, compared to 24 km a day recorded in the same period last fiscal, and 29 km per day achieved in the whole of FY22.
The current year’s pace, however, is higher than that recorded in the pandemic-hit first two months of 2020. For the 2022-23 fiscal, the ministry of road transport & highways (MoRTH) had set a whopping 50 km a day target for highway construction. It translates into a little over 18,000 km for the entire fiscal.
