New Delhi: The Centre is preparing for a major acceleration in its highway development programme, with plans to award 10,000 kilometres of National Highway projects by the end of financial year 2026. This comes after a steady slowdown in project awards, which had fallen from 12,000 km in financial year 2023 to 7,500 km in financial year 2024 and further to 6,000 km in financial year 2025.
According to a senior government official, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways expects approvals to rebound to 10,000 km in the current fiscal. The ministry is also confident of awarding 9,000 km of projects against its 10,000 km target, with the remaining gap attributed to the government’s priority to clear older, pending projects. Of the 4,500 km that had been awaiting award, 3,500 km have now been cleared.
In terms of highway construction, progress is expected to align with the annual target of 10,000 km. As of October 2025, 3,200 km have been completed compared with 3,700 km during the same period last year. The performance is described as broadly on track, with delayed monsoons affecting construction timelines.
The government has also focused on reducing the time between project approval and commissioning. One key step is the requirement that 90 percent of land acquisition be completed before awarding projects under Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) and Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM), similar to the standard followed for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects. The number of delayed projects has fallen from 154 in April 2024 to under 100, and is expected to drop further to about 60 by the end of this fiscal year.
The timeline from approval to acquisition is expected to shorten by a year, improving efficiency across the sector. When asked whether capital expenditure could reduce next year due to pending works, the official responded that the ministry expects to “catch up”.
Last year, 5,614 km of National Highways were constructed against a target of 5,150 km. Capital expenditure by the National Highways Authority of India reached more than ₹2.5 lakh crore in financial year 2024-25, the highest ever. In the Union Budget 2025-26, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways received an allocation of ₹2,87,333 crore, with capex accounting for approximately ₹2.72 lakh crore.
BI Bureau
