Length of national highways grows to 140,937 km till November: Nitin Gadkari

Total length of national highways in India has increased to around 140,937 km till November end, said union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. He said that the total length of national highways across India has increased from about 91,287 km in April 2014 to about 140,937 km till the end of November this year.

Gadkari also said that during 2014-15 to the end of November this year, national highway projects for around 82,058 km have been awarded, while about 68,068 km length of roads have been constructed during the same period. He also said that 49 projects spreading about 4,970 km costing about ₹113,000 crore are currently in various stages of progress and are targeted for completion by 2023-24.

Gadkari further added that MoRTH has initiated the conceptualisation of additional 27 greenfield expressways or access-controlled highways for a total investment of about ₹3.6 lakh crore.

The minister said that out of 1,100 km road projects, identified under the National Highway Interconnectivity Improvement Programme (NHIIP) under the World Bank Loan Assistance, around 990 km has been completed with a total expenditure of about ₹5,565 crore.

Speaking about another question about FASTag, the union minister said that as on December 11 this year, about 96-97 per cent of the total toll plaza fees are collected through FASTag. In the year 2020-21, toll fee collected at toll plazas of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) across India in 2020-21 stood at ₹27,744.15 crore.