Daily NH construction touched staggering 78km/day in March

NEW DELHI: Contrary to the earlier trend of quick announcement of achievements in construction and award of highway projects, the road transport ministry is yet to declare the data for 2022-23 even 15 days after the end of the financial year, reports Dipak Dash.
The reason: the ministry is taking its time to reconcile data on the "exceptionally high rate" of NH construction - at 78 km per day or over 2,400 km in March - which is the highest-ever and almost three times more than the average daily construction during the previous 11 months. All other infrastructure ministries have released their data in the first week of this month.
TOI has learnt that the NHAI, which is primarily responsible for building wider highways has recorded highest ever construction in 2022-23, touching 5,544 km. Besides NHAI, two other wings - NHIDCL and state PWDs - also take up NH development works on behalf of the road transport ministry.
The government data show that there has been the trend of spike in NH construction in March every year. But the increase has been exceptional in the past three years. Officials said the steep increase in last month of the financial year (FY) is due to updating of the construction data of all months.
This spike in construction this March helped the government to touch approximately 10,500 km of NH construction in 2022-23 against the target of 12,000 km.