Anand Mahindra lauds India’s road network triumph over China! Know India’s future plans and completion timeline for Delhi-Mumbai Expressway

Anand Mahindra lauds India’s road network triumph over China! Know India’s future plans and completion timeline for Delhi-Mumbai Expressway

One of India’s most influential businessmen Anand Mahindra on Thursday took to X, formerly Twitter, to laud India’s road networks. He was responding to a post which showed India ahead of China in the list of largest road networks in the world.

In his post, Mahindra expressed his astonishment at discovering that India has surpassed China in this regard at 6,700,000 kilometre, while the Chinese stood at 5,200,000 kilometre. He also noted that India was not far behind the US, which currently has a road network measuring 6,832,000 kilometre, in the race. Furthermore, the chairman of the Mahindra Group conveyed optimism about Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, potentially aiming for the top position globally.

I was happily surprised to see that we are ahead of China. That must be because the western half of China is sparsely inhabited.More interesting is that we’re within striking distance of the U.S.A. I’m sure @nitin_gadkari ji can set a goal to overtake the U.S not too long from… https://t.co/nxUgYDk0Gy

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 4, 2024

India to meet 13,814-km highway construction target

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) secretary Anurag Jain has said that the country is confident of achieving the highway construction target of 13,814 kilometres for the current fiscal.

In a press conference, Jain elaborated that the overall expanse of national highways in India has experienced a 60% surge, reaching 146,145 km by December 2023, compared to the 91,287 km recorded in 2014.

Between April and December 2023, the ministry successfully constructed 6,217 km of national highways, surpassing the previous year’s figure of 5,774 km.

He mentioned that the government aims to grant contracts for 10,000 km of national highway projects during the fiscal year 2023-24. The ministry’s track record includes building 10,237 kilometers in 2019-20, 13,327 kilometers in 2020-21, 10,457 kilometers in 2021-22, and 10,331 kilometers in 2022-23.

The cumulative length of national highways (NHs) with four lanes or more expanded by 2.5 times, reaching 46,179 km in December 2023, compared to the 18,387 km recorded in 2014, Jain added.

In 2014, the total length of high-speed corridors stood at 353 km, a figure that escalated to 3,913 km by 2023. Simultaneously, the total length of national highways with less than two lanes decreased from 30% in 2014 to 10% of the national highway network in 2023.

Jain also mentioned that the government has urged companies to prepare detailed project reports (DPR) for identified projects yet to be awarded, aiming to expedite the awarding process in the fiscal year 2023-24.

He further said that the construction of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is projected to be completed by December 2024.

(With PTI inputs)