Road ministry to award contracts worth over Rs 3 lakh crore in FY25: Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) will award road contracts worth Rs 3 lakh crore in 2024-25 despite a slow start in the current financial year so far, union minister Nitin Gadkari said on September 16.

“Because of the election and the model code of conduct, the speed of awarding road projects was slow. I assure you we will finalise contracts worth more than Rs 3 lakh crore,” Road Transport and Highway Minister Gadkari said while speaking at the Network18 Chaupal on September 16.

The minister added that India will see the highest highway construction in FY25.

So far till August 31, 2024, MoRTH and the NHAI have awarded projects for around 700 kms while construction of 2,700 kms of national highways has been completed in FY25. This is much lower than the 3,200 kms of highways construction and 1,750 km of projects awarded during the same period in FY24.

As part of the MoRTH's ministry's 100-day plan for the new government, the ministry has received approvals from the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs for the construction of eight new highway projects, Gadkari said.

These eight projects include the construction of 88 km fully access- controlled 6-lane Agra-Gwalior corridor at a cost of Rs 4,613 crore under the build–operate–transfer (BoT) model, construction of 231 km fully access- controlled 4-laned Kharagpur-Moregram corridor at a cost of Rs 10,247 crore under Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) mode, and development of 214 km fully access- controlled 6-lane Tharad-Deesa-Mehsana-Ahmedabad corridor at a cost of Rs 10,534 crore under the BoT model.

Furthermore, the projects include the development of 68 km fully access- controlled 4-lane Ayodhya Ring Road at a cost of Rs 3,935 crore under HAM mode, construction of 137 km fully access- controlled 4 lane Pathalgaon-Gumla section of the Raipur- Ranchi Corridor at a cost of Rs 4,473 crore under HAM mode, construction of 47 km fully access- controlled 6-lane Kanpur Ring Road at a cost of Rs 3,298 crore under engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode, construction of 121 km Guwahati Ring Road at a cost of Rs 5,729 crore under BOT mode and construction of 30 km elevated Nashik Phata - Khed corridor at a cost of Rs 7,827 crore under BoT mode.

Apart from the above MoRTH has also awarded the construction of 215 km of national highway at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore across Karnataka, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

The highway ministry also saw the operationalization of 219 km of High-Speed Corridors in India including the Santalpur – Jalore section of the Amritsar- Jamnagar Corridor and Indergarh to Bridge on Mej River section of the Delhi Mumbai Expressway.

As part of its original 100-day plan MoRTH had planned to operationalise 700 kilometres (km) of high-speed corridors, award 3,000 km of highway projects, and implement a scheme for cashless treatment for accident victims following the Lok Sabha elections.

MoRTH had plans to construct over 1,700 km of highways in the first three months after elections and award over 3,000 km.

The ministry had missed its original highway awarding target of nearly 13,000 km by a wide margin last financial year 2023-24, as it couldn’t award projects due to delays in approval of the Revised Estimates of its flagship Bharatmala, the cost of which has doubled since its inception.

Seven years after its launch in 2017, the government has restricted funding of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' (MoRTH) flagship road construction scheme, the Bharatmala Pariyojana.

The Bharatmala project, referred to as a garland of national highways, has been put into the cold storage on account of cost overruns and a seeming lack of consensus among ministries.

The central government has started discussions with the National Highways Authority of India's (NHAI) long-term bond holders for the prepayment of three NHAI bonds, a letter sent by the NHAI on August 11 to one of the bondholder banks, seen by Moneycontrol, says.