Highway Upgradation Grows 30% In Pandemic Hit Fy21 (Till Feb)
Economic activity has been badly impacted in FY21 due to the Covid19 Pandemic through a combination of lockdowns, issues with labour availability and budgetary constraints. But despite all this, Roads sector has had a good year. The length of Highways that were upgraded in FY21 (upto Feb) by NHAI and state PWDs and the BRO is up almost 30% YoY.
Most of the growth is due to the various state PWDs and the BRO where road upgradation/improvement is up 50% YoY to 6600km. For the NHAI, the road upgradation/improvement was largely flat YoY (~3200 km till Feb vs. ~3100 km till Feb last year).
And this is mirrored in Bitumen consumption too - Bitumen consumption grew 12% in FY21 as against a 9% decline in overall petroleum product consumption.
