₹1.68 Lakh Cr Allocated to NHAI for FY25: FM

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Feb. 1 marginally increased allocation to State-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to ₹1.68 lakh crore for 2024-25 from last year’s revised allocation of ₹1.67 lakh crore . The pre-election Budget 2024-25 document has allocated a marginally enhanced outlay of ₹2.78 lakh crore for the highways sector .

NHAI’s debt reduction plan

This was part of the government’s move to reduce the highway developer’s debt. NHAI’s debt stood at ₹3.44 lakh crore at the end of January 2022, against ₹24,188 crore in 2014-15, a 14-fold rise in less than seven years. The government is now looking to reduce NHAI’s debt to ₹1 lakh crore by 2024-25.

According to the interim budget for 2024-25, no provision for borrowings by the highway developer has been made for the next financial year. However, the NHAI’s budgetary allocation has been increased to ₹1.68 lakh crore, 3.9 percent higher than the budget estimate of ₹1.62 lakh crore made in the previous budget and ₹1.41 lakh crore in 2022-23. As per the government’s revised estimates, NHAI will be allocated ₹1.674 lakh crore in 2023-24.

Highway projects and targets

The increased allocation to NHAI is expected to boost the construction of national highways and expressways in India. NHAI and National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) are primarily responsible for the development of highways in the country.

The government has set a target of building 40 km of roads per day in 2024-25, up from 37 km per day achieved in 2022-23. The government has also announced several ambitious highway projects, such as the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, Bharatmala Pariyojana, Sagarmala Project, and Jal Marg Vikas Project.

The finance minister said that the government will come out with a White Paper on mismanagement of economy prior to 2014, and highlighted the achievements of the Modi government in various sectors, including infrastructure .