National Highways Development Project
The National Highways Development Project is a project to upgrade, repair and widen national highways in India . The project was decided in 1999. National highways are only about 2% of all roads, but they make up 40% of all road traffic in the country. The project is being carried out by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) an agency of the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways .
Phases
The project consists of the following phases:
- Phase I: The Golden Quadrilateral ( GQ ) the 5846 km long connection between the four cities of Delhi , Mumbai , Chennai and Kolkata . This phase is funded in large part from a special gasoline tax and government loans. A four-lane connection was completed in October 2011.
- Phase II: The North-South and East-West Corridor consists of the National Highways that connect the four extreme points of the country. The corridor connects Srinagar in the north with Kanyakumari in the south with a branch from Salem to Kanyakumari (via Coimbatore and Kochi ) and from Silchar in the east to Porbandar in the west. The total length of the corridor is 7300 km. In August 2011, 79.4% of these were completed and 12.7% were being worked on. The connections also include the connection of seaports and other construction projects with a length of 1157 km. The financing is similar to phase I.
- Phase III: Phase III includes the expansion of 12,109 km of national highways. The focus is on heavily trafficked sections, the connection of the capitals of the states from Phase I and Phase II and the connection of economic centers. 2075 km were commissioned. The financing is to take place via a public-private partnership model.
- Phase IV: There is a plan to expand 20,000 km of National Highway that were not expanded in Phase I, Phase II or Phase III. In phase IV, single-lane highways will be converted into two-lane roads with a paved verge.
- Phase V: In order to respond to the growing volume of traffic, a number of four-lane highways are being upgraded to six-lane roads. About 5000 km of roads are to be expanded.
- Phase VI: The expansion of connections between large commercial and industrial centers with Expressway . A 400 km long section will connect Vadodara with Ahmedabad ; a corresponding road is planned between Vadodara and Mumbai for this purpose. A 334 km long expressway connection between Chennai and Bangalore and a 277 km long expressway connection between Kolkata and Dhanbad are planned in this phase. The financing is to take place via a public-private partnership model.
- Phase VII: Phase VII is about improving urban traffic by building bypasses that connect to national highways in key cities. This phase also includes the expansion of sections through bypasses and elevated roads where urban growth makes this necessary. A 19 km long elevated road in Chennai is being built in this phase.
| NHDP phase | project | length | Projected Cost ₹ (in billion Indian rupees ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| NHDP-I & II | Work on the GQ and NS-EW corridor | 13,423 km | 646.39 |
| NHDP-III | four-lane expansion | 11,809 km | 806.26 |
| NHDP-IV | two-lane expansion | 13,203 km | 1,158.23 |
| NHDP-V | six-lane expansion of selected sections | 6,500 km | 412.1 |
| NHDP-VI | Expansion of expressways | 1,000 km | 166.8 |
| NHDP-VII | Bypass roads, lane dividers, service roads | 700 km | 166.8 |
| total | 46,635 km | 3,356.58 |
| urgency | NHDP phase | Length (km) | Order status | Approval | Completion (planned) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phase I. | 5846 km | fully awarded | December 2000 | December 2006 |
| 2 | Phase II | 7300 km | partially awarded | December 2003 | December 2009 |
| 3 | Phase III A | 4000 km | Sections selected | March 2005 | December 2009 |
| 4th | Phase v | 6500 km | 5700 km of GQ + 800 km still to be selected | November 2005 | December 2012 |
| 5 | Phase III B | 6000 km | Sections selected | March 2006 | December 2012 |
| 6th | Phase VII A | 700 km | Bypasses still to be selected | December 2006 | December 2012 |
| 7th | Phase IV A | 5000 km | Select sections | December 2006 | December 2012 |
| 8th | Phase VII B | Bypasses still to be selected | December 2007 | December 2013 | |
| 9 | Phase IV B | 5000 km | Sections still to be selected | December 2007 | December 2013 |
| 10 | Phase VI A | 400 km | Sections selected | December 2007 | December 2014 |
| 11 | Phase VII C | Bypasses still to be selected | December 2008 | December 2014 | |
| 12 | Phase IV C | 5000 km | Sections still to be selected | December 2008 | December 2014 |
| 13 | Phase VI B | 600 km | Sections still to be selected | December 2008 | December 2015 |
| 14th | Phase IV D | 5000 km | Sections still to be selected | December 2009 | December 2015 [obsolete] |
(Note: the completion dates are the official estimates; the NHAI publishes reports on concrete progress on their website)
More plans
The Indian government further plans for the expansion of the national highways:
- four-lane expansion of 10,000 km in phase III. An increased expansion of roads in the north-east of the country
- Two-lane expansion with paved verge of 20,000 km of roads in phase IV
- six-lane expansion of the GQ and other sections. (6500 km in total) in phase V.
- Expansion of bypass roads, lane dividers, service roads in phase VII
Web links
- National Highways Agency of India official website
- Progress of the National Highway Development Plan website will be adjusted as construction progresses.
- Special Accelerated Road Development Program for North Eastern Region