The Union government would target construction of 17,000 km of roads over the next two years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on November 3.
Against the target of awarding contracts for construction of 9,500 km during the current financial year, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has managed to bid out only 600 km during April-October — which is a shade over 6 per cent of the annual target fixed by Singh himself.
In terms of actual construction, between April and October, NHAI had built around 1,170 km, against its annual target of 3,000 km. The progress in case of other agencies engaged by the highways ministry could not be accessed, though sources said its not more than 200 km.
NHAI and other agencies will need to step up the pace of road construction to over 23 km a day to build 17,000 km over the next two years as envisaged by the PM. Despite promising to pick up the pace of construction to 20 km a day, the government has so far managed to build 11-12 km a day.
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