Government has increased focus on development of national highways (NHs), with the construction pace increasing by around three times between FY14 and FY24. However, buildings coming up along NH stretches are impacting the laying of parallel roads and bypasses, said the Economic Survey.
The development of expressways and corridors, along with the adoption of transformative initiatives to promote user convenience and environmental sustainability, have been the highlight of the recent road sector growth journey, the Survey, which was laid in Parliament on Monday, said.
Ribbon development generally refers to linear construction of houses and buildings along routes of NHs. “However, continuous ribbon development along developed NHs is posing a challenge for the construction of a new parallel road/bypass,” it added.
Now, the government has started focusing on development of access controlled NHs. The government is also aiming to make all NHs a minimum of two lanes with paved shoulders standards.
Other Challenges
Another challenge, said the Survey, is the slow on-boarding of digital land records, leading to land acquisition delays. This is further impacted by delays in approvals for forest and other environmental clearances.
“Despite the large build-up of connectivity infrastructure and energy related assets, both the sectors reported the need for corrections in the delay in land acquisition and land-related clearances,” it added.
The consistent focus on road, rail and air connectivity, sanitation and digital infrastructure have brought in a considerable growth in assets in these sectors.
“However, infrastructure-creation efforts in India are predominantly public sector-led. As per the Infrastructure Monitor 2023 published by Global Infrastructure Hub and the World Bank, India’s investment in infrastructure was largely funded by the public sector – which includes the Government agencies and state-owned entities and banks,” the Survey said.
Between fiscal year 2019 and 2023, the Central and State governments contributed to 49 per cent and 29 per cent of the total investments, respectively, while the private sector contributed 22 per cent.