India needs 19 lakh cr for highways in 5 yrs

New Delhi: Highways construction in India is estimated to require about Rs 19 lakh crore in the next five years and innovative financing mechanisms needs to be put in place to address any funding gap, according to a report by consultancy firm KPMG.

India has the second-largest road network in the world and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is planning to develop about 60,000 km of highways in the next five years. The MoRTH is targeting an average road construction rate of 40 km per day, said the KPMG report, titled 'Roads and Highways Sector - Current Trends and Future Road Map'.

"Assuming average construction cost of approximately Rs 30 crore per km (including land acquisition cost), and factoring in inflation for road construction cost at a conservative 3 per cent, the total funding requirement over five years is estimated at approximately Rs 19 lakh crore which amounts to average annual fund requirement of approximately Rs 3.8 lakh crore," the report, released in a CII event, said.