Highway construction has seen a rapid growth in last four years under the present government. It has touched 26 km per day in the period between April -June this year, as against 25 km per day in the same period last year, the Financial Express has reported.
A total of 2,345 km of highways were built in the first quarter of this financial year, against 2,260 km in the corresponding period last year.
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has seen the fastest increase in construction of highways. It has increased from 1.8 km a day in the first quarter last year to 8.3 km a day in the same period this year.
NHAI largely builds highways under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), where the government bears 40 per cent of the project cost. The Ministry of Roads, Transports and Highways, on the other hand, generally implements the projects via engineering, procurement and construction route. Under this, the government bears all the project costs.
The present Narendra Modi government has built 73 per cent more highways in the first four years than the previous government in its last four years. The present government has constructed 28,531 km of highways in four years since 2014-15, whereas the previous government had constructed just 16,505 km in its last four years till 2013-14.
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