The Road Ahead

Public financing of highway projects is inevitable but needs moderation

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Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari's recent statement that the government plans to take up national highway (NH) projects worth ₹10 lakh crore in the next two years, with a special focus on the Northeast and border areas, signals a renewed investment push amid moderating construction pace. It also indicates that despite a near-absence of genuine private risk capital, and increased reliance on budget funds and other modes of financing like monetisation of brownfield assets, the government is determined to avoid any slackness in the key infrastructure sector.

The minister has also said India's highways will be better than that of the US in the next two years. For the record, India's overall roads network of 6.4 million km is already second only to the US (6.6) in terms of length. The NH network itself has grown by 60% to 146,195 km between 2014 and 2024. But given that the country's population is four times that of the US, it still has many "miles" to go.