Impetus being given to highway projects

Including Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I, 83,677 km of highway sector projects are proposed to be implemented with an overall cost of Rs 6,92,324 crore over a five year period, Parliament was told this week.

The Cabinet had accorded approval to the investment proposal for the umbrella highway sector programme Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP) Phase-I on October 24, 2017 for development/upgradation of 34,800 km of National Highways (NHs) with an outlay of Rs 5,35,000 crore for over a five year period, i.e. from 2017-18 to 2021-22.

In addition, 48,877 km of projects under other ongoing schemes like NH (O), Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North East (SARDP-NE), Externally Aided Projects (EAP) and roads projects in Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (LWE) are also to be implemented during the same period. This has an approved additional outlay of Rs 1,57,324 crore.