Nitin Gadkari fuels highway revolution: Capex surges 6x to ₹3 lakh crore in a decade

Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, today said that capital expenditure in the highway sector has risen to ₹3.01 lakh crore in 2023-24, compared with ₹51,000 crore in 2013-14.

“Budgetary allocation for road transport and highways has increased from about ₹31,130 crore in 2013-14 to ₹3,00,019 crore in 2024-25. Capital expenditure on national highways (NHs) has significantly increased from about ₹51,000 crore in 2013-14 to ₹3.01 lakh crore in 2023-24. The infrastructure sector is the prime mover of the economy and contributes to faster economic growth and development,” Gadkari said in a written statement in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

During this period, the national highway network has also expanded significantly. “The NH network length in the country has increased from 91,287 km in March 2014 to 1,46,204 km at present, including in the states of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and the northeastern states,” Gadkari stated in his reply.

“With the increased budgetary allocation over the years, the quality of roads has improved substantially. The length of the four-lane and above NH network has increased by 2.5 times from about 18,371 km in 2014 to about 48,430 km. Also, the proportion of NHs with less than two lanes has decreased from 30% to 9% of the total NH network. National High-Speed Corridors (HSCs)/Expressways spanning about 2,474 km have already been operationalized. These developments have improved connectivity and accessibility to NHs across the country and enhanced logistics efficiency,” the minister said.