India - Roads & Highways
India has the second-largest road
network in the world, spanning a total of 5.89 million kilometres (kms). This
road network transports 64.5% of all goods in the country and 90% of India's
total passenger traffic uses road network to commute. Road transportation has
gradually increased over the years with improvement in connectivity between
cities, towns and villages in the country.
In India, sale of automobiles and
movement of freight by roads is growing at a rapid rate. Private sector has emerged as a key player in the development of
road infrastructure in India. Increased industrial activities, along with
increasing number of two and four wheelers have supported the growth in road
transport infrastructure projects. The Government's policy to increase private
sector participation has proved to be a boon for the infrastructure industry
with many private players entering the business through the public-private
partnership (PPP) model. In FY21, there were 125 PPP projects worth US$ 23.25
billion in India.
Highway construction in India
increased at 17.00% CAGR between FY16-FY21. In FY21, 13,298 kms of highway was
constructed across India. In June 2021, the Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways constructed 2,284 kms of national highways compared with 1,681 kms in
June 2020. The foundation stone was established for nine National Highway
projects—with a total length of 262 kms—worth >Rs. 2752 crore (US$ 371.13
million) in Tripura.
The Government of India has allocated
Rs. 111 lakh crore (US$ 1.4 trillion) under the National Infrastructure
Pipeline for FY 2019-25. The roads sector is likely to account for 18% capital
expenditure over FY 2019-25.
- Under
Phase-I of Bharatmala Pariyojana, the Ministry has approved implementation
of 34,800 km of national highways in 5 years with an outlay of Rs.
5,35,000 crore (US$ 76.55 billion). Under this scheme, 22 greenfield
projects (8,000 kms length) are being constructed; this is worth Rs. 3.26
lakh crore (US$ 43.94 billion).
- The
government also aims to construct 23 new national highways by 2025.
- The Minister
for Road Transport & Highways is targeting to construct 40 kms per day
in FY22.
- NHAI has
decided to deploy Network Survey Vehicle (NSV) to enhance quality of the
national highways. Carrying out road condition survey using NSV on the
national highways was made mandatory for certifying completion of the
project and every six months thereafter.
- Under the
Union Budget 2021-22, the Government of India has allocated Rs. 108,230
crore (US$ 14.85 billion) to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
- The NHAI
awarded 1,330 km of highways in the first half of FY21, which was 1.6x of
the total awards in FY20 and 3.5x of the FY19-levels. NHAI, the nodal
authority for building highways across the country, has set a target of
awarding 4,500km of projects in FY21.
- Recently,
The MSMEs and Road Transport & Highways approved construction of the
158-kms ring road worth Rs 10,000 crore (US$ 1.37) in Telangana. Also, the
Government of India and New Development Bank (NDB) signed two loan
agreements for US$ 646 million for upgrading the state highway network and
district road network in Andhra Pradesh. The MoRTH also proposed to
develop additional 60,000 kms of national highways (in the next five
years), of which 2,500 kms are expressways/access controlled highways,
9,000 kms are economic corridors, 2,000 kms are coastal and port
connectivity highways and 2,000 kms are border road/strategic highways.
The ministry also intends to improve connectivity for 100 tourist
destinations and construct bypasses for 45 towns/cities.
The Government, through a series of
initiatives, is working on policies to attract significant investor interest. A
total of 200,000 km of national highways is expected to be completed by 2022.
In the next five years, National
Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will be able to generate Rs. 1 lakh crore
(US$ 14.30 billion) annually from toll and other sources.
Types of Roads
Expressways
Expressways are high-speed roads that
are four- or more lanes, and are access controlled where entrance and
exit is controlled by the use of ramps that are incorporated into
the design of the expressway. Most of the existing expressways in India
are toll roads. Expressways make up approximately 2,091 km
(1,299 mi) of India's road network, as of 2020. The government has
drawn up a target to build a 18,637-kilometre (11,580 mi) network of new
expressways by 2022.
National Expressways Authority of
India (NEAI) operating under the Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways will be in-charge of the construction and maintenance of
expressways. The NHAI by Government of India aims to
expand the expressway network and plans to add an additional 18,637 km
(11,580 mi) of expressways by 2022 apart from existing national highways.
Several expressway projects, such as
the Chennai-Bangalore Expressway, Chennai-Salem
Expressway, Delhi-Jaipur Expressway, Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway are
planned/under-construction. Ganga Expressway is approved and expected
to be under-construction by end of 2021.
National Highways
National highways are highways
connecting major cities throughout the country and are at-grade roads.
National Highways are designated with NH, followed by the highway number.
Indian national highways are further classified based on the width of the
carriageway of the highway. India has 142,126 km (88,313 mi) of
National Highways. National Highways constituted 2.7% of India's total
road network, but carried about 40% of road traffic. The National Highways
Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Highways and
Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) are the
authorities responsible for the development, maintenance and management of the
National Highways in India. The NHAI has been undertaking developmental activities
under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) in five
phases. From 2018, the pending projects under NHDP are expected to be subsumed
under Bharatmala. The NHAI is also responsible for implementing other
projects on National Highways, primarily road connectivity to major
ports in India.
The Golden
Quadrilateral and North–South and East–West Corridor were major
ongoing highway development projects in India.
State Highways
State highways are highways connecting
major cities throughout a state and are also at-grade roads. They also
connect with National Highways or state highways of neighboring states. State
Highways are designated with SH, followed by the highway number and preceded by
state code.The total length of state highways are 186,528 kilometres (115,903 mi). Maharashtra has
the largest share of state highways among all states (22.14%), followed
by Karnataka (11.11%), Gujarat (9.76%), Rajasthan (8.62%)
and Tamil Nadu (6.67%).
State governments have the authority
and responsibility to build state highways. Most of the state highways are
developed by state public works departments. Independently of
the Bharatmala program, state governments have been implementing a
number of state highway projects.
District Roads
District Roads in India are
approximately 632,154 kilometres (392,802 mi), of which 14.80% of the
total length was surfaced. Zila Parishads also have the authority and
responsibility to build district roads.
Rural Roads
Rural roads form a substantial portion
of the country's road network, forming 72.97% of the total of roads. The
percentage of unsurfaced roads to the total road length was 31%.
For the development of these rural
roads, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Prime Minister's Rural Roads
Scheme) was launched in December 2000 by the Indian government to provide
connectivity to isolated rural habitations. The scheme envisions that these
roads will be constructed and maintained by the village panchayats. In some
parts of India, the government has attempted to manage the programme directly as
a local social spending program.
In other parts of India, the Pradhan
Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and a sister program named Bharat
Nirman (Build India) have privatized the rural road construction
projects and deployed contractors. The effort has aimed to build all-season
single-lane asphalted roads to connect India's rural and remote areas. A
significant portion of funding for these projects has come from the World
Bank and the Asian Development Bank.