Skip to main content

India unveils ‘economic corridor’ plans for 27,000km of roads

India has embarked on an ambitious 6-year plan to upgrade 27,000km of roads into economic corridors. The goal is to reduce traffic congestion and boost jobs in 30 cities, according to a report by the Times of India. Around 44 stretches of highway have been earmarked for improvement and construction will include ring-roads. Financing will be a mixture of private investment and public money. In addition, the government will develop another 15,000 km, which will serve as feeder routes to these corr
September 21, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
India has embarked on an ambitious 6-year plan to upgrade 27,000km of roads into economic corridors.

The goal is to reduce traffic congestion and boost jobs in 30 cities, according to a report by the Times of India.

Around 44 stretches of highway have been earmarked for improvement and construction will include ring-roads.

Financing will be a mixture of private investment and public money.

In addition, the government will develop another 15,000 km, which will serve as feeder routes to these corridors. It also plans to develop 40 interconnecting corridors to connect the Golden Quadrilateral and 44 economic corridors in the country, sources said. Several fund options, including private investment, loans from agencies and road development cess, are being explored by the government to finance the project.

Live Mint news website called it “by far the most ambitious roads project since…the Golden Quadrilateral connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata”. That project included just under 5,900km or roadworks.

Global management firm AT Kearney is advising the central (Union) government, Live Mint noted.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Road Highways and National Highways Authority will cooperate on 82 projects to improve the road links between port cities. Highways to be built under the collaboration is part of the government's Bharatmala project, costing nearly US$60 billion, the newsmagazine SteelGur reported.

Related Content

  • Highway developments in India
    April 10, 2012
    A major highway deal has been agreed for a road project in Gujarat, India, worth an estimated US$810.8 million. It will be handled under the build, finance, operate and transfer basis and will involve upgrading and widening to six lanes a 102km section of National Highway 8 (NH-8) from Ahmedabad-Vadodara. The project also includes upgrading 92km of the existing Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway. Work is expected to take three years to complete, and the 25-year concession deal for the project has been a
  • Thailand Government plans infrastructure programme
    November 24, 2015
    Major plans are in hand in Thailand for transport infrastructure development. The country’s Ministry of Transport is revising its construction plans for a series of key transport infrastructure projects at present. Several selected plans will then be presented to the cabinet in mid-December 2015. A total of five public-private partnership (PPP) ventures are among projects that will be re-submitted to the cabinet for approval. Two of these PPP projects are highways that will cost an estimated US$3.9 billion.
  • Russia to commission new Moscow-St Petersburg highway by 2020
    June 20, 2017
    Final delivery of the final stretch for Russia’s key highway project looks set to be delayed – Eugene Gerden writes. I now looks as if Russia’s most ambitious project in the field of road building in recent years, the building of a new high-speed road link between Moscow and St Petersburg, the country’s largest cities, will not be complete in time. The project was set up by the Russian government and several private investors. According to initial state plans, building of the new road should have been compl
  • Slovakia’s D4/R7 zero bypass of Bratislava picks up award
    February 10, 2017
    Slovakia’s D4/R7 zero bypass of Bratislava has picked up the Best Transaction in Europe award given by the UK magazine Project Finance International. The Ministry of Transport and Construction received the award in London in early February. The ministry said that the contract is notable for being the first whereby a project had combined funding from European Union investment and structural funds and the EU fund for strategic investment. World Highways reported in January that construction will start early