India is constructing national highways faster than ever. Nitin Gadkari shares latest record

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that the country was constructing national highways faster than ever. He shared the details of per day construction between 2009-2014 and 2014-2021.

As per the numbers shared by Gadkari on Twitter, annual average construction of national highways has recorded 83 per cent spike in what what was recorded during 2009-2014. The graph shows that annual average construction of highways was 4,918 during 2009-2014, with 13 km per day. However, now this has number has jumped to 8,993 with 25 km per day.

The minister also shared the details of target for 2020-21 and what it achieved. According to the graph, the target was 11,000 with 30 km per day but the actual construction exceeded the target and achieved 13,327 with 37 km per day — 21 per cent higher that what what was targeted.

India is now constructing 37 kms national highways per day.

On May 1 this year, Gadkari had said that the Centre was giving utmost priority to the development of infrastructure and had set a target of road construction of worth Rs15 lakh crores in next two years. He was confident that his ministry would achieve target of 40 kilometres per day of highways construction in current fiscal.

"In India, projects like National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for 2019-2025 is the first of its kind and government is committed to provide world class infra to its citizens and improving quality of their lives," he had said.

Under the NIP, there are over 7,300 projects to be implemented at a total outlay of ₹111 lakh crore by year 2025.

The NIP aims at improving project preparation, and attract investment into infrastructure like highways, railways, ports, airports, mobility, energy and agriculture and rural industry.

On 12 July, Gadkari inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for 16 national highway projects in Manipur with an investment of ₹4,148 crores covering a total length of 298 kms. His ministry said the projects will provide all-weather connectivity to Manipur with the rest of the country and the neighbouring countries.

Gadkari said that projects worth ₹5000 crores had also been sanctioned for the state and the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) would be completed within six months and the work will start in a year's time. He said the expansion of highways in the state would be recommended under the Bharatmala Phase ll.