The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) plans to construct 10,000 km of national highways in the 2025-26 financial year, as per the Detailed Demands For Grants released on Monday. This development is set to increase the four-lane highways within the NH network by 8%, based on government estimates.

While the target for FY26 is slightly lower than previous years, officials explained that it reflects the government’s ongoing focus on building wider, more efficient highways. Although fewer roads may be built, their enhanced carrying capacity through more lanes will significantly improve traffic flow.

The government has set a revised target of constructing 10,400 km of national highways for FY25. By December 2024, 5,853 km of these roads had been completed.

The national highway network spans a total of 1,46,195 km, with 2,474 km devoted to National High-Speed Corridors (HSC) and 45,947 km dedicated to four-lane or larger highways.

In FY24, MoRTH constructed 12,349 km of NHs at a rate of 33.83 km per day, the second highest since the record 13,327 km in FY21.

The Ministry also aims to build 1,100 km of national highways in North Eastern States and 750 km in tribal areas during the year. Additionally, the length of the Operational High-Speed Corridor is expected to reach 5,800 km in FY26.

MoRTH is looking to attract greater private investment in national highways via Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) and Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) models. The ministry expects private sector contractors to invest ₹35,000 crore in NH development under these public-private partnership projects during FY26, accounting for 30% of the total awarded contracts.