Team News Riveting
New Delhi, January 17
The construction of national highways till mid January in the current fiscal is up by 8 per cent as compared to the corresponding period of last financial year.
As much as 8,169 km of national highways have been constructed from 1 April 2020 to 15 January 2021 and the government is hopeful that it will surpass the annual construction target of 11,000 km by March 31 despite covid-19 related challenges.
“The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has created a record by constructing 534 km of National Highways (NHs) in the last week commencing 8 January. The government has constructed 8,169 km of National Highways (NHs) from April 2020 to 15 January 2021 in the current financial year 2020-21, i.e. with a speed of about 28.16 km per day. During the same period in the last fiscal, 7,573 km roads were constructed, with a speed of 26.11 km per day,” an official statement of the road transport and highways ministry said on Sunday.
The rate of road construction generally picks up in the second half of the year, especially after the monsoon season gets over. An uptick in road construction is emblematic of the government’s focus on infrastructure creation, which ultimately boosts economic growth.
The rate at which contracts are being awarded for building national highways has more than doubled this year. The ministry awarded highway projects of 7,597 km during this period from April 2020 to 15 January 2021). In the previous fiscal, projects of 3,474 km were awarded during the same period.
In total, projects of 8,948 km of roads were awarded in 2019-20 while 10,237 km of roads were constructed. “The achievement assumes significance given the fact that the first two months of the current fiscal were lost due to nationwide lockdown in the wake of covid-19 pandemic,” the statement said.
The ministry has taken several initiatives to increase the pace of construction. The pace of construction is expected to increase further in the remaining months of the current financial year, which are conducive for construction activities, it said.
