STRONG BONDS

Road construction has come a long way what with modern technologies now available

- Molly R

The Indian road network is the second largest globally, with a length of around 63.86 lakh km. The outbreak of the virus towards end-FY20 had created panic globally, leading to the temporary suspension of economic activity. The road sector in Q1FY21 suffered a major setback during the initial lockdown, resulting in a delay of commercial operation dates by three to six months for most projects. However, once the lockdown was gradually lifted, it gained pace in terms of construction, project allocation and toll collections. The execution was robust and the pace of 37 kms per day recorded in FY21 was the highest ever recorded by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in a financial year.

The Indian road sector witnessed a dramatic rise in FY21 in terms of a higher pace of road construction, project allocations and toll collections, despite the economic distress caused by the pandemic. The imposition of the lockdown resulted in labour shortage, with migrant labour returning to their native villages, thereby slowing the pace of road construction activity in H1FY21. However, once the lockdown was lifted, construction gained pace, and the NHAI was able to construct a total length of 13,327 km of National High- ways (NH) at an average pace of 37 km per day in FY21. This road construction pace of 37 km per day was much higher than 26 km per day in FY20 and is also the highest ever achieved by the NHAI in a financial year.