India to Invest ₹10 Lakh Crore in Highway Upgrades with Focus on Northeast : Gadkari

The Indian government is preparing for a transformative infrastructure overhaul, with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announcing a massive ₹10 lakh crore investment to enhance national highways, particularly in the Northeast region.

India is poised for a major infrastructure revolution as the central government unveils plans to invest ₹10 lakh crore over the next two years to upgrade highways across the country. According to Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, this ambitious investment will especially focus on improving roads in the Northeast, aiming to bring them on par with those in the United States.

In an interview with PTI, Gadkari emphasized the government’s intent to bring India’s infrastructure up to world-class standards. “We plan to take up projects worth ₹10 lakh crore in the next two years to strengthen highways nationwide, with a strong focus on the Northeast and border areas. In two years, highways in the Northeast will rival US roads,” he stated.

The minister pointed out the urgent need for infrastructure improvement in the Northeast due to its challenging terrain and strategic location. He reiterated the government’s broader mission of transforming national infrastructure across all states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Delhi.

Highlighting the scale of the initiative, Gadkari shared that 784 highway projects are being planned for the eastern states, with a total budget of ₹3,73,484 crore, covering 21,355 km. These projects span across various agencies, including the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL).

State-specific investments are also substantial. Assam is currently seeing projects worth ₹57,696 crore, while Bihar’s projects are valued at approximately ₹90,000 crore. Other allocations include over ₹42,000 crore for West Bengal, ₹53,000 crore for Jharkhand, and ₹58,000 crore for Odisha. Excluding Assam, Northeast states alone are expected to see highway development projects worth ₹1 lakh crore within this year.

Gadkari also mentioned a pioneering mass rapid transport pilot project in Nagpur, budgeted at ₹170 crore. This eco-friendly initiative features a 135-seater bus running on non-polluting energy sources, with plans to replicate it nationwide — including on the Delhi-Jaipur corridor — under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model if successful.

India’s National Highway network has witnessed remarkable growth, expanding from 91,287 km in March 2014 to 1,46,204 km at present. This includes a major upgrade in quality, with the proportion of highways below two lanes decreasing from 30% to just 9%.

In 2024-25, the NHAI exceeded its construction targets by completing 5,614 km of national highways, surpassing the goal of 5,150 km.

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