Can India's roads feature in the Guinness Book of World Records? Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is hopeful that the government's "record" quantum of award of work on National Highway construction in the last fiscal year could get the country an entry into the list of record breaking feats and achievements.
"We have awarded work on 16,800 km of road length this year till March-end. While I was in London this month, I was told that this is the largest-ever award of work for road construction in any country in a year. We are sending the details to the Guinness World Records," Gadkari told DNA.
As per government records, 8,231 km of national highways have been constructed in the last financial year.
Gadkari further said that by the end of this government's tenure, work on 1 lakh km of road projects will either be completed or under award.
As per Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways records, the total length of NH roads constructed between 2014 and 2017, under the current BJP-led NDA government, stands at 18,702 km as against 15,005 km constructed between 2011 and 2014, when the Congress-led UPA was in power. This is a jump of 17.9 per cent.
The government has also awarded work on 34,018 km of national highways between 2014 and 2017, as compared to 14,879 km between 2011 and 2014. Even the budget allocation for highway construction had seen an increase of 132.64 per cent in the 2014-17 period as against the 2011-2014 period.
The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has set itself a target to increase the length of national highways to 2 lakh km.
The ministry has increased its daily road construction target to approximately 23 km a day this year as compared to 16 km a day in 2015-16.
Gadkari had set an ambitious target of constructing highways at a rate of 41 km per day.
