The Age of Expert Engineering

Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India, is concocting a silent revolution in Road development. According to the data divulged by the NHAI, the annual average construction of national highways has recorded an 83 percent spike compared to the pace of highway construction before Gadkari's time. The numbers show that the annual average construction of highways was 4,918KM during 2009-2014, which implies 13KM per day. In FY21, the NHAI targeted constructing 11,000KM of the highway by covering 30KM per day. But in somewhat a first in the infrastructure projects in the country, the actual construction exceeded

the target and achieved 13,327KM - 21 percent higher than what was targeted. India is now constructing 37 KMs of national highways per day!

However, the aforementioned is not just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the pioneering aspects of NHAI's latest endeavors. Last year, NHAI hit the spotlight by setting a record by laying 25.54 kilometers of road in a short span of 17:45 hours on the Solapur-Bijapur section on National Highway 13 with the help of its partner IJM India Infrastructure. Not to mention the commissioning of 340.8 km long, 6-lane wide Purvanchal Expressway, India's longest expressway that incorporates a 3.2 KM long emergency Airstrip in an impressive 36 months, inaugurating it by landing a C-130 Hercules plane carrying Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The government is committed to expanding the national highway network across the country with the aim of constructing 18,000 km of highways in 2022-23 at a record speed of 50 km per day. On the other hand, the real estate sector in India is expected to reach $1 trillion in market size by 2030, up from $200 billion in 2021, and contribute 13 percent to the country's GDP by 2025. It's going to be an epoch of expert engineers.