The government has proposed to restructure the National Highways programme to ensure inter-linking of highways through a grid.
“The National Highway Grid of desirable length and capacity will be created using a financiable model,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech. While the Minister did not lay down the details of the grid, it is expected to connect 12 major ports, 45 out of 53 million plus cities and 26 State capitals apart from linking tourist destinations and religious places.
The FM said in phase-2 of the Bharatmala scheme, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will assist State governments to develop State Highways. Under the first phase of Bharatmala, a total of 34,800 km of road has been approved for development from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022 at a total outlay of ₹5,35,000 crore.
The total allocation for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has gone up from ₹78,625.50 crore to ₹83,015.97 crore, with a sizeable increase for road works.
