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The 20 km per day road laying target set by the UPA-II Government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has hit a speed-breaker.
In the first quarter of the current fiscal, only 13.14 km roads a day was laid through various programmes, according to data compiled by the Road Transport and Highways Ministry.
Interestingly, the actual road laying data will be keenly watched in the current fiscal, especially in the run-up to the general elections in 2014, as roads are big vote-catchers.
According to the data, road laying in fiscal 2012-13 stood at 15.7 km a day; 13.73 km a day (2011-12); 11.87 km a day (2010-11); and 14.5 km a day (2009-10).
Of the total target of 5,942 km of highways in the current fiscal, 1,183 km or 19 per cent was laid between April-June this year. Despite a dip in the award of road construction projects since 2012-13, numbers have remained positive. This is because between fiscal 2009-10 and 2011-12, the project award pipeline has been on the rise. Roads take about two-three years to be build laid from the award date. In 2012-13, over 5,700 km of roads were laid, including 2,939 km through the national highway development programme route.
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