(a) whether the Government is seriously considering to construct multilane roads in various
parts of the country;

(b) if so, whether the Government has taken any steps in this regard so far; and

(c) if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

(SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)

(a) to (c) The total length of National Highways (NHs) is about 1,32,500 km at present. The Lanewise
distribution of NHs as on 31.03.2019 is as under:

Sr. No. Lane configuration of NHs Approx. Length (km)

1. Less than 2-Lane NH standards 36,310

2. 2-Lane NH standards 65,123

3. 4-Lane or more NH standards 31,067

The development and maintenance of National Highways (NHs) is a continuous process.
The works on NHs are accordingly taken up from time to time as per inter-se priority, traffic
density and availability of funds to keep the NHs in traffic worthy conditions.

The Ministry took up development of NHs/ roads under various phases of National
Highways Development Project (NHDP), Special Accelerated Road Development Programme
for the North East Region (SARDP-NE) including Arunachal Pradesh Package of Roads, Special
Programme for Development of Roads in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas,
Externally Aided Projects (EAP), National Highways (Original) [NH(O)] scheme, etc. Various
phases of NHDP envisaged development of NHs to 4/6 lane and 2 lane NH standards,
development of expressways, etc. Development of most of the roads/ NHs under other schemes
envisages their upgradation to 2 lane NH standards.

The Ministry had taken up detailed review of NHs network with a view to develop the
road connectivity to Border areas, development of Coastal roads including road connectivity for
Non-Major ports, improvement in the efficiency of National Corridors, development of
Economic Corridors, Inter Corridors and Feeder Routes along with integration with Sagarmala,
etc., under “Bharatmala Pariyojana”.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the proposal for
investment approval for Phase-I of “Bharatmala Pariyojana” during its meeting held on
24.10.2017. “Bharatmala Pariyojana” Phase–I includes development of about 9,000 km length of
Economic corridors, about 6,000 km length of Inter-corridor and feeder roads, about 5,000 km
length of National Corridors Efficiency improvements, about 2,000 km length of Border and
International connectivity roads, about 2,000 km length of Coastal and port connectivity roads,
about 800 km length of Expressways and balance length of about 10,000 km of roads under
NHDP.

The general principle for upgradation of roads under Phase-I of Bharatmala Pariyojana
includes development of Economic corridors primarily to 4/6 lane NH standards, Inter-corridor
and feeder roads primarily to 4 lane NH standards and Border, International connectivity roads,
Coastal and port connectivity roads primarily to 2 lane NH standards.

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