More greenfield highways to be built as part of NH development

The government's National Highway Development Program will now focus on building more greenfield highways rather than expanding the existing network, signaling a significant shift in focus.

According to the media, the next phase of Bharatmala-ll, in which nearly 8,500 km of national highways (NHs) will be built for Rs 3.5 lakh, will mainly focus on greenfield corridors. Pune-Bengaluru, Chennai-Trichy, Varanasi-Kolkata, Gorakhpur-Siliguri and Hyderabad-Bengaluru are just some of the pieces that have been identified.

The government is expected to launch a comprehensive program for cable car projects, which have huge potential to improve connectivity in the hill states.

Nearly 50 proposals for ropeway projects have been submitted by Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Manipur.

In the case of Bharatmala-ll, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has prepared detailed project reports (DPRs) for these stretches to start inviting bids once the plan is approved by the Union cabinet. They added that this work can be done alongside ongoing Bharatmala-l projects, which will miss their original 2022-23 deadline due to major changes in the program compared to what was originally planned. The revised estimate for Bharatmala-one, including the construction of 34,800 km of highway, has almost doubled to Rs 10.25 lakh crore.

Officials said that under the original plan, 60% of the identified stretches would be developed as four-lane or more corridors, with the remaining 40% to be developed as two-and-a-half lanes. However, almost 90% of the Bharatmala-l network is now being developed as four or more lanes.

The second major change was the decision to build 2,500 km of highways instead of the original 800 km.

The overall increase of the road transport ministry informed parliament earlier this month that the NHAI had tendered works for 19,363 km under Bharatmala-one until the end of January, completing 7,000 km of the identified stretches.

Officials believe that the remaining projects will be tendered by 2023-24 and all work will be completed by 2026-27.