Centre targets awarding 10,000 km of NH projects in FY 2026

The Centre plans to award 10,000 kilometres of National Highway projects by the end of financial year 2026, recovering from a slowdown that saw annual awards drop from 12,000 km to 6,000 km over the past three years, according to a senior government official.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways expects fresh approvals to reach 10,000 km in the current financial year, which had dropped to 7,500 km in financial year 2024, and 6,000 km in financial year 2025 after reaching 12,000 km in financial year 2023, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Secretary V. Umashankar told journalists.

The government is also confident of awarding projects covering 9,000 km out of its target of 10,000 km as its focus remained on first awarding those projects that were sanctioned but not yet awarded. Around 4,500 km remained pending for award, out of which 3,500 km have now been awarded, the official explained.

Broadly on track: official

In terms of highway construction, the government is again hopeful of reaching its target of 10,000 km this financial year. As of October 2025, 3,200 km of NH projects have been completed, compared with 3,700 km during the same period last year. Mr. Umashankar said the performance was broadly on track, noting that delayed monsoons had also affected progress.

The top official explained that the award of new projects was delayed as the government prioritised rolling out pending projects from previous years. Until April 2024, there were 154 delayed projects that have dropped to under 100 and are expected to further reduce to approximately 60 by the end of this fiscal year.

The official explained that the government has taken several steps to reduce the time taken between approving a project and its date of commissioning, including requiring 90% of land acquisition to be completed for those awarded in Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) and Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) to 90% on the lines of projects awarded in EPC mode (engineering, procurement and construction).

The timeline from approval to acquisition is expected to shrink by a year making the entire process more efficient.

To a question on whether the government expects its capital expenditure (capex) for the next financial year to reduce because of pending projects from previous years, the official said they were expecting to “catch up”.

Last year, a total 5,614 km of National Highways were constructed against the target of 5,150 km. The capital expenditure by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in financial year 2024-25 for development of national highway infrastructure reached an all-time high of over ₹2.5 lakh crore. In the Union Budget 2025-26, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) was allocated a total outlay of ₹2,87,333 crore. The capex component of this allocation was approximately ₹2.72 lakh crore.