Highway Hurdles

India’s thrust to develop infrastructure with an aim to ensure speedy economic development may suffer a serious setback as the rate of highway construction has decreased considerably in recent months. The growth rate in this sector may hit a six-year low in the ongoing fiscal as it is being feared that the country will not be able to build 10,000 kilometres of highway. According to data available in the National Highway Authority’s (NHAI) website, only 599 km of road projects have been awarded in the first six months of the ongoing fiscal, which is well below the average award of 4500 km in previous years. At the same time, during the same period, approximately 1782 km highways have been constructed which is well short of average construction of 5,000 km in the same period. Although the authority has not given any reasons behind the poor showing, it is being said that changes in project awarding policies have slowed down the process as several new conditions have been added to it. However, the authority is hopeful that construction of highways in the country will pick up during the second half of the ongoing fiscal once everyone gets accustomed with the new rules which have given a renewed thrust on ensuring quality and on-time construction.

Highways are essential for infrastructural developments as it allows producers to market their products without much difficulties. This is why highway construction has been a priority since the mid-nineties when former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee initiated the ‘Golden Quadrangle’ project, connecting Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Silchar to Saurashta by world-class highway. As expected, the near successful implementation of the project has not only provided a much-needed fillip to trade and commerce, but also helped the tourism sector to grow simultaneously as people started preferring weekend trips by car due to improved connectivity. Enhanced connectivity along with good quality of roads have also reduced travel time considerably which has helped the country to lower its energy bill.

Since then, highway construction continues to receive topmost priority from the authorities to avail several benefits arising out of an improved road connectivity. This is why, for the last couple of years, India has managed to construct over 10,000 km of road every year. But now, it is threatening to drop below nine thousand km, which means that the thrust on infrastructure development will be weakened and may hurt the growth rate. Apart from the new eligibility rules, land acquisition is another issue which needs to be sorted out to expedite highway construction in the country. More often than not, high acquisition rate has resulted in cost escalations. The situation has further been aggravated as many state governments have not shown enough keenness to finish the project on time by helping the central agency to acquire land. Besides, there are few other glitches which are hampering the rate of highway construction. Thus, it’s time now to take up the challenge to construct more than 10,000 km highways every year irrespective of the hurdles.