Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India News Updates

Introduction 

The Ministry of Road Transport is the main administrative body and apex ministry for making laws, regulations, and rules for road transport. This body formulates and administers the details of road transport. 

This ministry aims at the modernization of transport to increase mobility, efficiency, and the quality of the road transport system. Dr. Vijay Kumar Singh is the road and transportation system minister who holds the portfolio of the Ministry of Road Transportation and Highways of India.

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Need of the Ministry of Road Transport

• India has a total of 6. 4 million km of national and state highways and Urban and Rural roads. India has the world’s 2nd largest network of road transport in the World.
• 64.5 % of transportation of goods, is by road only. 90% of passengers traveled on the road.
• The National Highway comprises 2% of the road network and 40% of traffic goes through National Highways.
• Highway construction has increased 17% from 2016 to 2021. From 2021, India started construction of a 13,298 km highway.

Government Initiatives for Road Construction

• National Infrastructure Pipeline 
• Bharatmata Pariyojna
• Data lake and project management software
• In the 2021-22 budget, and 1.18 crore for road construction.
• Port connectivity and coastal roads.
• Broader roads and coastal connectivity.
• Greenfield expressway for management of traffic and freight.
• Balanced NDHP work, which maintains 10,000km of new roads.

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Current pursuits of the Ministry 

• NHAI’s Infrastructure Investment Trust, which was approved in December 2019 will be launched soon. 
• It appears that NHAI’s operative toll roads are likely to form a significant part of the national asset monetization program, with the Minister signifying that NHAI strategies to monetize ₹1,00,000 crore under the TOT model in the upcoming 5 years.
• The newly announced DFI too will, hopefully, play a major role in making viable resources available for road network development.
• The government should also revisit its PPP models (including its HAM model) to attract more private sector investment in new asset development.
• implementation of Bharatmata would depend on fast-tracking of land acquisitions, clearances from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and other clearances.
• Timely redressal of disputes by establishing a regulatory organization is also crucial before undertaking such a large-scale project because of possible arbitration issues.