Road work slows despite steep targets
NEW DELHI : Highway construction continues to sputter in the slow lane even as the government pushes for a record target showcase progress ahead of the 2024 general elections. According to the ministry of road transport and highways, work has been completed on just 2,670 km of highways in the first four months of the fiscal or just about 20% of a target of building 13,800 km of highways this financial year. The award of road projects has also fallen steeply to 1,125 km from 1,975 km in the same period a year ago, indicating a thinning of the pipeline for projects that would impact construction over a longer period.
“A series of factors including extended monsoon has impacted construction in early part of this year. This is normally the case every year when, during monsoons, work on highways slows down. But there is a very large pipeline of projects and work will pick up pace in the second half of year to take construction work closer to the target," said a government official privy to the development.
The ministry did not respond to queries till press time. As per the latest MoRTH data, highway construction slowed to a mere 420 km or 14 km per day in July. It was 2,670 km in the April-July period.
Though the numbers this year so far are marginally higher than the 2,493 km built in April-July last year, experts said maintaining pace and taking it up substantially this year would be a challenge as there’s a slowdown in both constuction and awards ahead of general elections. According to a report from rating agency ICRA, highway awards normally slow down in the last quarter of a financial year falling just before elections, when the model code of conduct comes into force. If this scenario plays out in FY24, constructing
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