Indian government is looking at an investment of over 2.64 lakh crore in the road sector in the next five years. For this over 65% will come from the private sector.Mr.C P Joshi, Road Transport and Highways minister, said, “The pace of infrastructure development needs acceleration if the gaps are to be bridged. We are looking at an investment of Rs 2, 64,000 crore in the highways sector in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17). NHAI (National Highways Authority of India ) will shell out Rs 87,000 crore while the remaining 1.77 lakh crore is envisaged from the private players""
. The development came after the prime minister Mr. Manmohan Singh, while reviewing the progress of highways last month, expressed concerns that the country is deficient in terms of the quality as well as length of road network.
NHAI has achieved award of 5,058 km of highways in 2010-11, which is the highest till date. The Transport Ministry has set a target of awarding 7,300 km of roads in the current 2011-12 fiscal.
India has a large network of 33 lakh km roads out of which national highways constitute only 70,548 km.
