Four lane road
The Government of India is planning to further boost its high-speed road network. For this, a target has been set to spend $ 125 billion i.e. about 11 lakh crore rupees. People familiar with the case said that India is planning to expand its high-speed road network within a decade, under which Rs 11 lakh crore will be invested to modernize the infrastructure and cut logistic cost.
According to the ET report, the country will build good controlled roads up to 17,000 km, or 10,563 miles, which will allow drivers to travel at a speed of up to 120 kmph, which will provide faster, safe and more efficient connectivity than traditional highways. People said that about 40% of the proposed network is already under construction and is expected to be completed before 2030, while the work on the remaining corridors is expected to start by 2028 and to be completed by 2033.
According to the report, this effort of India reflects other major economies to improve transport infrastructure and efforts to reduce logistics costs. China has built over 180,000 km of expressways since the 1990s, while the US maintains more than 75,000 km of interstate highways. Till March this year, India’s National Highway Network was more than 146,000 km long, but only 4,500 km meets high speed standards. Although India’s expressway plan is slightly small as expected, it is capable of pulling a private capital due to its ambitious deadline and Reliance on the hybrid financing model.
Investment of private companies
In this project, a bid will be made under the build-operate-transfer or BOT model for projects giving 15% or more returns, so that private companies will be able to collect costs through tolls. The hybrid annuity model will be adopted for projects with low estimated returns, under which the government pays 40% of the cost of construction costs.
The ET has quoted sources as saying that most of the schemes running in various stages of construction are under the hybrid annuity model, but the government is now expecting more private sector participation in the rest of the projects, in recent years, private interest in India’s road sector has been less. India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Press Information Bureau of the Government did not immediately respond to the requests of the comments. The country’s highway network is being upgraded under the leadership of the Government Company Indian Highways Authority of India i.e. NHAI, which spent a record 2.5 trillion rupees on construction in the financial year ended in March, which is 21% more than a year ago. For the year to end in March 2026, the government has increased the budget allocation for roads and highways to Rs 2.9 trillion.
Adani Group will also invest
Brookfield Asset Management Limited, Blackstone Inc., McWery Group Limited and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, all have committed capital investment, while the Adani Group has announced an investment plan of $ 18.4 billion in the infrastructure including roads. According to the estimate of Deloit India, due to policy support, rising demand and scale of planned projects, the country can attract hundreds of billion dollars of investment in the infrastructure over the next three years.