Data with the roads ministry shows just 3,567 km of highways have been completed in the first six months of FY24 indicating that the pace would have to be taken up to 50 km of construction per day to reach the target.

According to two people aware of the development, construction may have been slow in H1, but may pick up pace in the second half, as has been the case for past few years post monsoon.

“Whatever may be the case, the 13,800 km construction target looks difficult at this juncture,” one of the two persons quoted earlier said.

Queries sent to the ministry remained unanswered at press time.

While Highway Construction has been slow in the April-September period, it is still higher than the 3,559 km built in the first half of previous year that saw the year ending at 10,331 km, lower than the targeted 12,500 km.

In an interaction with Mint earlier, roads secretary Anuraj Jain had said that though construction of highways may look slow in the earlier part of the year, many more highways may be built in the October-March period, spelling additional lane-km.

The slowdown is also seen in the award of new projects. Only 2,286 km of projects have been awarded in the first six months of the current fiscal compared to 4,092 km of highways awarded in the April-September period of FY23 indicating a thinning of the pipeline for projects that would impact construction over a longer period.

The slow pace of construction this year would mean that the roads ministry may have to push its agencies to increase the pace to 50 km of highways per day. This pace has not been achieved so far over any period of time.

According to a report from rating agency ICRA, highway awards normally slow down in the last quarter of a financial year and falls just before elections, when the model code of conduct comes into force.

If this scenario plays out in FY24, constructing over 50 km of highways a day in the remaining six months would be difficult, making the reworked target of 13,800 km for FY24 unachievable, said an official at a major consultancy asking not to be named.

“The pace of construction of highways has gone up from 11.6 km a day in 2014 to around 30 km a day now. Though the government had been trying to raise this to 50 km per day, the slowdown in construction in past two financial years has pushed back the construction targets a little but we will soon reach our stated goals,” said the person.

Highway construction in the pre-pandemic period of FY20 spanned 10,237 km at a daily rate of 28.04 km. The pace increased during the first pandemic year (FY21), when lockdowns helped accelerate construction, resulting in a record 13,327 km of highways built at 36.51 km per day. In FY22, the rate slowed again to 10,457 km at 28.64 km per day. For FY22, the road ministry initially aimed to construct 14,600 km of highways—or 40 km per day. However, it later revised the goal to 12,000 km. The year FY23 ended with 28.3 km/day construction with overall 10,331 km of highways being built in the year.

“Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights!” Click here!

Updated: 20 Oct 2023, 10:14 PM IST