National Highways Development Project

The National Highways Development Project is a project to upgrade, rehabilitate and widen major highways in India to a higher standard. The project was implemented in 1998 under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. "National Highways" account for only about 2% of the total length of roads, but carry about 40% of the total traffic across the length and breadth of the country. This project is managed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The NHAI has invested US$71 billion for this project, as of 2006. The NHDP represents 49,260 km of roads and highways work and construction in order to boost economic development of the country.

The Network of National Highways in India

The project is composed of the following phases:

• Phase I: The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ; 5,846 km) connecting the four major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. This project connecting four metro cities, would be 5,846 km (3,633 mi). Total cost of the project is Rs.300 billion (US$6.8 billion), funded largely by the government’s special petroleum product tax revenues and government borrowing. In January 2012, India announced the four lane GQ highway network as complete.^[1][2]
• Phase II: North-South and East-West corridors comprising national highways connecting four extreme points of the country. The North–South and East–West Corridor (NS-EW; 7,142 km) connecting Srinagar in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, including spur from Salem to Kanyakumari (Via Coimbatore and Kochi) and Silchar in the east to Porbandar in the west. Total length of the network is 7,142 km (4,438 mi). As of 31st October 2016, 90.99% of the project had been completed, 5.47% of the project work is under Implementation and 3.52% of the total length is left.^[3][4] It also includes Port connectivity and other projects — 435 km (270 mi). The final completion date to February 28, 2009 at a cost of Rs.350 billion (US$8 billion), with funding similar to Phase I.
• Phase III: The government recently approved NHDP-III to upgrade 12,109 km (7,524 mi)of national highways on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, which takes into account high-density traffic, connectivity of state capitals via NHDP Phase I and II, and connectivity to centres of economic importance. Contracts have been awarded for a 2,075 km (1,289 mi).
• Phase IV: The government is considering widening 20,000 km (12,000 mi) of highway that were not part of Phase I, II, or III. Phase IV will convert existing single lane highways into two lanes with paved shoulders. The plan will soon be presented to the government for approval.
• Phase V: As road traffic increases over time, a number of four lane highways will need to be upgraded/expanded to six lanes. The current plan calls for upgrade of about 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of four-lane roads, although the government has not yet identified the stretches.
• Phase VI: The government is working on constructing expressways that would connect major commercial and industrial townships. It has already identified 400 km (250 mi) of Vadodara (earlier Baroda)-Mumbai section that would connect to the existing Vadodara (earlier Baroda)-Ahmedabad section. The World Bank is studying this project. The project will be funded on BOT basis. The 334 km (208 mi) Expressway between Chennai—Bangalore and 277 km (172 mi) Expressway between Kolkata—Dhanbad has been identified and feasibility study and DPR contract has been awarded by NHAI.
• Phase VII: This phase calls for improvements to city road networks by adding ring roads to enable easier connectivity with national highways to important cities. In addition, improvements will be made to stretches of national highways that require additional flyovers and bypasses given population and housing growth along the highways and increasing traffic. The government has not yet identified a firm investment plan for this phase. The 19 km (12 mi) long Chennai Port—Maduravoyal Elevated Expressway is being executed under this phase.

National Highways Development Project at a glance

NHDP Phase	Particulars	Length	Indicative cost ₹ ( in cr)
NHDP-I & II	Balance work of GQ and EW-NS corridors	13,000 km (8,100 mi)	42,000
NHDP-III	4-laning	10,000 km (6,200 mi)	55,000
NHDP-IV	2-laning	20,000 km (12,000 mi)	25,000
NHDP-V	6-laning of selected stretches	5,000 km (3,100 mi)	17,500
NHDP-VI	Development of expressways	1,000 km (620 mi)	15,000
NHDP-VII	Ring Roads, Bypasses, Grade Separators, Service Roads etc.	700 km (430 mi)	15,000
	Total	45,000 km (28,000 mi)	1,69,500 (Revised to 2,20,000)

Note: 1 crore= 10 million

Timeline of the National Highways Development Project

Priority	NHDP Phase	Length (km)	Status	Approval	Completion
1	Phase I	5,846 km (3,633 mi)	Fully complete	December 2000	December 2006
2	Phase II	7,300 km (4,500 mi)	Award in progress	December 2003	December 2009
3	Phase III A	4,000 km (2,500 mi)	Already identified	March 2005	December 2009
4	Phase V	6,500 km (4,000 mi)	5700 km of GQ + 800 km to be identified	November 2005	December 2012
5	Phase III B	6,000 km (3,700 mi)	Already identified	March 2006	December 2012
6	Phase VII A	700 km (430 mi)	Ring roads to be identified	December 2006	December 2012
7	Phase IV A	5,000 km (3,100 mi)	To be identified	December 2006	December 2012
8	Phase VII B		Ring roads to be identified	December 2007	December 2013
9	Phase IV B	5,000 km (3,100 mi)	To be identified	December 2007	December 2013
10	Phase VI A	400 km (250 mi)	Already identified	December 2007	December 2014
11	Phase VII C		Ring roads to be identified	December 2008	December 2014
12	Phase IV C	5,000 km (3,100 mi)	To be identified	December 2008	December 2014
13	Phase VI B	600 km (370 mi)	To be identified	December 2008	December 2015
14	Phase IV D	5,000 km (3,100 mi)	To be identified	December 2009	December 2015

"Financing of the National Highway Development Programme" (PDF).

Plans

The Indian Government has set ambitious plans for upgrading of the National Highways in a phased manner in the years to come. The details are as follows:

• 4-laning of 10,000 km (6,200 mi) (NHDP Phase- III) including 4,000 km (2,500 mi) that has been already approved. An accelerated road development programme for the North Eastern region.
• 2-laning with paved shoulders of 20,000 km (12,000 mi) of National Highways under NHDP Phase-IV.
• 6-laning of GQ and some other selected stretches covering 6,500 km (4,000 mi) under NHDP Phase-V.
• Development of 1,000 km (620 mi) of express ways under NHDP Phase-VI.
• Development of ring roads, bypasses, grade separators, service roads, etc. under NHDP Phase-VII.

Status from NHAI website

National Highways Development Project is being implemented in all phases except phase VI at present. The present phases are improving more than 49,260 km of arterial routes of NH network to international standards. The project-wise details of NHDP all phases is below:

NATIONAL HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT(NHDP)
Projects		Total Length(Km.)	Already 4/6 Laned(Km.)	Under Implementation (Km.)	Contracts Under Implementation (No.)	Balance length for award(Km.)
NHDP	GQ	5,846	5,846 (100.00%)	0	0	-
	NS - EW Ph. I & II	7,142	6,499	391	31	252
	Port Connectivity	435	379	56	7	-
	NHDP Phase III	11,809	7,144	2,986	78	1,679
	NHDP Phase IV	13,203	2,893	6,139	90	4,171
	NHDP Phase V	6,500	2,483	974	25	3,043
	NHDP Phase VI	1,000	-	165	8	835
	NHDP Phase VII	700	22	79	3	599
	NHDP Total	46,635	25,266	10,790	242	10,579
Others (Ph.-I, Ph.-II & Misc.)		1926	1712	214	11	-
SARDP -NE		110	105	5	1	-
Total by NHAI		48,671	27,083*	11,009	254	10,579
*Total 20,000 km was approved under NHDP Phase IV, out of which 14,799 km was assigned to NHAI and remaining Km with MORTH.

See also

• Indian Expressways
• Golden Quadrilateral
• North–South and East–West Corridor
• List of National Highways in India
• Mago-Thingbu to Vijaynagar Border Road in Arunachal Pradesh

References

1. "Govt declares Golden Quadrilateral complete". The Indian Express. 7 January 2012.
2. "National Highways Development Project Map". National Highways Institute of India.

External links

• "Rs. 3.2 trillion for infrastructure in 11th plan" - India e-News article, dated 6 July 2006.
• NHAI Project Photographs
• India Highways Group with lots of Pictures
• 'Mile by Mile, India Paves a Smoother Future' — extremely detailed New York Times article, dated December 4, 2005 (free registration required)
• National Highways Development Project: Get The Facts 2014