The central government managed to raise Rs 40,314 crore from the asset of highway and road assets in 2023-24, its highest monetisation number, said the Economic Survey for 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on July 22.
"The sector has attracted its highest-ever private investment in FY24 as the private sector capitalises on a conducive policy environment," the Survey said.
The Survey added that funds garnered through asset monetisation in the roads sector have exceeded Rs 1 lakh crore since FY19.
It added that the average pace of national highway construction increased by 3 times from 11.7 km per day in 2013-14 to 34 km per day by 2023-24.
The Survey reviews how the economy performed in this fiscal year and the road ahead for the next year.
It pointed that due to ribbon development along operational national highways the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India and National Highways Authority of India are finding it difficult for the construction of a new parallel roads.
The Survey said that the government will have to find a way around the ribbon development as it looks to make all national highways in the country a minimum of two lanes with minimum of two lanes.
Ribbon development refers to the building of houses along the highways radiating from a human settlement.
The Survey also highlighted that government still struggles with on-boarding of digital land record which leads to land acquisition delays while constructing national highways.
It also highlighted that the government also continues to face delays in highway construction projects due to slow approvals for forest and other environmental clearances.
The Survey highlighted that toll digitisation has reduced waiting time at toll plazas by nearly 16 times from 734 seconds to 47 seconds in the last 10 years.
It also said that the government has awarded projects to setup 322 wayside amenities along national highways so far with 162 being awarded in 2023-24.
Going forward a total of 900 WSAs projects are expected to be developed.
The Survey also lauded the government's steps to come out with a proactive policy for highway maintenance as the government awarded multiple 20-year maintenance contracts.
"About 37,500 km of national highway network has been taken up under maintenance contracts," the Survey said.
The Survey also said that a total of 8,29,409 km of road length has been sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) out of which, 7,63,308 km of road length has been completed as on 18 th June 2024 at an expenditure of Rs 3.23 lakh crore.
It said that going forward the development of 11 industrial corridor projects as part of the national industrial corridor programme will further enhance road connectivity in India.
These include industrial corridors connecting Delhi-Mumbai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Amritsar Kolkata , East Coast and Vizag Chennai Corridor, Bengaluru-Mumbai, Extension of CBIC to Kochi via Coimbatore, Hyderabad-Nagpur, Hyderabad-Warangal, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Delhi-Nagpur and Odisha Economic Corridor.
The Survey also said that the government is planning to award seven multimodal logistics parks projects in 2024-25 after six (MMLPs) have been awarded until 2023-24.
"Rs 2,505 crore have been awarded for dedicated multimodal logistics parks (MMLPs) in FY24," the Survey said.
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