The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has so far raised ₹14,268 crore by monetising national highways (NHs) in a bid to meet the higher requirement of funds due to increase in highway construction activities. During FY19, the MoRTH raised ₹9,681.50, ₹14,742 crore in FY21 and ₹22,367 crore in FY22.

“The ministry is primarily responsible for the development and maintenance of NHs. The development and maintenance of NHs is a continuous process. Apart from the budgetary support for the NH projects, other sources of funds include monetisation of NHs including project-based financing and Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources (IEBR),” Roads and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said in a written response to a query in Lok Sabha.

Besides, private investment is also done for NH projects. The Ministry has been raising funds through the monetisation of NHs including project-based financing since FY19, he added.

Expenditure on roads

In a separate query in Lok Sabha, Gadkari informed that the funds released or expenditure incurred by MoRTH has increased from ₹32,702 crore in FY15 to ₹2,09,312 crore in FY22.

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“The total length of NHs in the country has increased from about 91,287 km in 2014 to about 1,44,634 km at present. The total road length in the country increased from about 54,72,144 km in FY15 to about 63,31,757 km in FY19. About 10,457 km length of NHs were constructed during FY22 as against 4,410 km length of NHs constructed during FY15,” he added.

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