The Rs 2.9 lakh crore allocated for road transport and highways ministry for 2025-26 – barely 2.4% higher than the revised estimate of FY25 – is the lowest increase in the last 10 years.
Sources said the marginal rise is mainly because not many projects are under execution and no new flagship highway development programme has been approved so far. The ministry is expected to meet the expenditure target for FY25 as govt has allowed National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to pre-pay around Rs 40,000 crore from the budgetary allocation.
As per the Budget estimate, Rs 1.9 lakh crore has been allocated to NHAI, which is an increase of around Rs 20,000 crore from FY25.The govt continues to provide the entire funding to NHAI from the Budget and makes no provision for borrowings for the next fiscal as it continues its focus to reduce the authority’s debt burden.
NHAI’s total debt at the beginning of the current fiscal was pegged at Rs 3.3 lakh crore, which dropped to around Rs 2.8 lakh crore at the end of the third quarter of FY25.
