Road construction down by 12.1% to 1288 km in the current financial year up to May 2024

Excessive heat in most parts of the country slowed down the construction of national highways in India with the ministry of road transport and highways constructing 1288 km of national highways in the current fiscal up to May 2024 as against 1465 km constructed during the corresponding period in 2023, a dip of 12.1%.

As per the monthly update, released the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) on Wednesday, the government did not award any project during the period due to the imposition of model code of conduct except one project of 4 km with the approval of Election Commission of India, as compared to 382 km awarded during the same period in the previous year.

The capital expenditure incurred during the period stood at Rs 57,925 crore till May 2024, which is 42.5% of the capital outlay under the vote on account provision for the first five months of 2024- 25.


During this period, a total of 77 land acquisition notifications were issued and land acquisition compensation of approximately Rs 683.25 crore were processed.

Besides, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), under MoRTH, organized a national workshop on implementation of insurance surety bonds in national highways contracts to review the progress made in the implementation of insurance surety bonds and encourage participation from the stakeholders for wider adoption of the instrument.

Insurance Surety Bonds are instruments where insurance companies act as ‘surety’ and provide the financial guarantee that the contractor will fulfill its obligation as per the agreed terms. The ministry of finance made electronic bank guarantee (e-BG) and Insurance Surety Bonds at par with bank guarantees for all government procurements.