Highway construction to hit record 2,900km this fiscal

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) expects to beat all previous records by building at least 2,800-2,900km of highways during 2012-13 under the National Highway Development Programme, says a report.

This will be the highest ever completion in the authority's history. The maximum national highways (NH) construction record so far has been 2,693km in 2009-10, sources said.

Citing unnamed officials, a Times of India says highways minister C P Joshi has asked the NHAI to achieve its internal target of 3,000km by March-end and to expedite construction on small pending stretches so that large corridors can be brought under the "completion" category.

"Issues relating to every under construction stretch was discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday at the highest level where top NHAI and highway ministry officials were present," a source told the paper.

Till December, NHAI has constructed around 1,650 km of road. Officials claimed that the pace of construction usually increases during this period and the fresh target can be achieved.

This could be a little compensation for the authority, which has failed to meet the target for awarding projects due to poor response from bidders.