NEW DELHI: ‘All weather terrain’ might well be a befitting description for the country’s road sector. Weathering the pandemic-induced twists and turns, the sector will see more stretches of national highways, completion as well as awarding of multiple projects and fund raises in 2022, making it a “better” year than the passing one.
Connectivity with remote and tough terrains, decongesting major points in the road network, an integrated multi-modal national network of transportation and logistics, and steering ahead with the ambitious voluntary vehicle scrappage policy are also on the 2022 radar.
ext calendar year is going to be better (in terms of national highways construction) than the current year… next year, we are hoping that many of the projects which are being bid out, awarded this year and which have come to a certain stage, will be completed,” Union Road Transport Secretary Giridhar Aramane told PTI.
While the pandemic ravaged many a sectors at different points of time in the last nearly two years, the road sector grappled with barriers but the progress in terms of national highway construction was stellar. Aramane pointed out that due to monsoon, state-owned agencies that are into construction of national highways faced some problems during August and September in certain states.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) aims to construct 40 kilometres of national highway every day in the current fiscal. The target is higher than the record construction of 37 kms daily during 2019-20 period.
“Our achievement can be much more than the current financial year. We also have a pipeline for awards next year under the Bharatmala Pariyojna and under the National Highway general programme,” Aramane said in an interview.
MoRTH has identified projects which need to be offered next year under the Bharatmala Pariyojna.
“Many of them are important greenfield projects and many others are under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP),” he said and emphasised these projects will help provide “logistic efficiency to the Indian economy”.
As part of bolstering infrastructure in the country, which aims to become a USD 5 trillion economy in the coming times, building high quality roads and ensuring smooth connectivity is a key priority.
