Highways Construction Pace Touches Record 34 KM Per Day; Construction Target Achieved One Month Ahead Of Schedule

From a mere 12 km per day in 2014-15, the pace of highway construction has nearly tripled to touch a record high of 34 km per day, the government said on Monday (22 March) as per one Economic Times report.

"The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has achieved another milestone by constructing 12,205.25 km of National Highways in the current financial year 2020-21 (till 22nd March, 2021), i.e., with the construction of 34 kilometers per day," the ministry said in a statement.

This figure is 1,205 km more than the target of 11,000 km fixed for the current fiscal

"This achievement is significant as the first few months of the current financial year were lost due to nation-wide lockdown in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Construction activities were badly affected during the period," the statement said.

The minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari earlier this month announced achieving the target of constructing 11,000 km of national highways one month ahead of schedule.

He has also set the goal of achieving the pace of 40 km per day construction soon. The ministry has announced a sleuth of measures to boost the construction pace of highways in the nation.

The recent measures taken by the government - like shifting from milestone-based billing (typically ranging between 45-75 days) to monthly billing and release of retention money; performance security in proportion to the work already executed, etc. - have helped in reducing the cash conversion cycle favouring the contractors. Hence, the increase in the construction pace.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman provided the highest-ever Rs 1.18-lakh crore capital outlay for the ministry of road transport and highways Budget 2021-22.