The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has said that it has created a record by constructing 534 kilometres of National Highways (NHs) in the week that began January 8.
- Ministry says 8,169km of National Highways constructed between April 2020 and January 15, 2021
- Aims to complete 11,000km of National highways by end of financial year
The Ministry has constructed 8,169km of National Highways from April 2020 to January 15, 2021, in the current financial year 2020-2021, which translates to around 28.16km per day. During the same period in the last fiscal, 7,573km of roads or 26.11km per day were constructed.
MoRTH says it is hopeful that with such a pace, it should be able to cross its construction target of 11,000km by March 31.
The Ministry also awarded NH projects of 7,597km during this period (April 2020 to January 15, 2021). In 2019-2020, projects of 3,474km were awarded during the same period. Thus, the pace of award has also more than doubled this fiscal. In total, projects of 8,948km of roads were awarded in 2019-2020 while 10,237km of roads were constructed.
The achievement assumes significance, given the fact that the first two months of the current fiscal were lost due to the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On a related topic, late last year, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, revealed plans to introduce a new GPS-based toll collection system in a bid to decongest highways by eliminating the need for conventional toll booths.
MoRTH also recently introduced issued a notification enabling Indian citizen to apply for an International driving permit without requiring a valid visa, as well as being able to renew a permit from a foreign country. The Ministry also recently issued a draft notification to make passenger airbags a mandatory fitment in all cars.
Rivan RS 
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
