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290 Economic Survey 2021-22

8.41 A robust asset pipeline has been prepared to provide a comprehensive view to investors
and developers of the investment avenues in infrastructure. The pipeline includes selection of
de-risked and brownfield assets with stable revenue generation profile (or long rights) which
will make for an attractive investment option. Total indicative value of NMP for core assets of
the Central Government has been estimated at Rs 6.0 lakh crore over 4-year period (5.4percent
of total infrastructure investment envisaged under NIP).

Road Transport

8.42 Road transport is one of the most cost effective and convenient modes of transportation in
India both for freight and passengers as it has high penetration level with door-to-door delivery.
Importance of road infrastructure is widely recognized as a potent means of socio-economic
integration and is vital for the economic development of the country. The road network of the
country consists of National Highways (NH), State-Highways (SH), District Roads, Rural Roads,
Urban Roads and Project Roads of over 63.71(Provisional) lakh km of roads as on 31 March
2019, which is the second-largest in the world, after the United States with 66.45lakh kms of
roads. There has been a consistent increase in the construction of National Highways/roads
since 2013-14 with 13,327 kms of roads constructed in 2020-21 as compared to 10,237 kms
in 2019-20, indicating an increase of 30.2 per cent over the previous year. In the2021-22 (till
September), 3,824 kms of road network were constructed. The extent of road construction per
day increased substantially in 2020-21 to 36.5 kms per day from 28 kms per day in 2019-20,
a rise by 30.4 percent as compared to the previous year (Figure 24). The significant upturn in
road construction in 2020-21 is due to the increase in public expenditure by 29.5 percent as
compared to the previous year- a reflection of the impetus given by the Government of India to
a critical sector that generates employment and supports infrastructure during a pandemic year.
In addition to action taken to increase the network of national highways, the govt has taken
measures to address village level road network through the Gram Sadak Yojana discussed in
chapter 9.A comparison of National Highway network in the country in 2011 and 2021 may be
seen in chapter 10.

Figure 24: Road Construction

14,000 40
35
Construction of NHs/ Roads (km) 10,000 25 Road construction in KM per day
12,000
30

8,000
20
6,000
15
4,000
10
2,000
0 5 0
2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018- 19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22*
Construction of NHs/ Roads (km) Road construction in KM per day (RHS)

Source: Survey calculations based on data from M/o RTH. For year 2021-22 -As on 30.9.2021