National Highway building maintains slight lead above last year levels

National highway (NH) building till February 2023 has surpassed levels achieved during the same period of fiscal 2021-22 as per the latest data shared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. According to the centre, 8,064 kilometre (km) of NH have been constructed in the fiscal 2022-23 compared with 8,045 km in the comparable months of the previous fiscal.

This is the second consecutive month that highway construction was improved, albeit slightly, over the previous year. Construction of NH prior to January 2023 had trailed FY22 in all the previous months of the FY23.

The improved pace follows measures taken by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) to undertake a comprehensive review aimed at speeding up construction of national highway projects. ET had reported about these efforts in November 2022.


An internal review by MORTH had found that delayed financial closure for some road projects was highlighted as a reason for the slackened pace of construction during most of the current fiscal. The centre also focused on addressing bottlenecks pertaining to land acquisition and government approvals that pushed highway construction into the slow lane.

The annual highway construction numbers have declined from 2020-21 highs of 13,327 km to 10,457 km in 2021-22.

Graphic element - Table/Line Graph: Highway construction till month end (in kilometre)

Month	2022-23	2021-22
April	578	853
May	1307	1470
June	1966	2284
July	2493	2927
August	2912	3355
September	3559	3824
October	4060	4450
November	4766	5118
December	5774	5835
January	6803	6684
February	8064	8045

Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways