₹20 tn highway plan ready, may replace Bharatmala-2

Aim of the revised plan is to build more greenfield, access-controlled highways

- Subhash Narayan

• 50,000 km of highways to be built
• 35,000 km of access-controlled expressways

The second stage of the highway development programme Bharatmala may be withdrawn in favour of a ₹20 trillion, 20-year project, two persons aware of the development said.

According to them, the new strategy is to move to the more ambitious Vision 2047 plan that would involve building 50,000 km of highways including about 30,000-35,000 km offenced-off expressways, involving an investment of more than 20 trillion.

The government had finalized the more modest Bharatmala scheme in 2017, when the Cabinet approved the phase 1 programme.

Phase 1 involved construction of 34,800 km of highways that would link several of the existing road infrastructure while providing better connectivity to various industrial corridors.