On the back of an aggressive asset monetisation push, the government will press the throttle on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model - under which private developers fund highway construction - for future highway development, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said.
As per the amended rules, an NOC for transfer of ownership or transfer of a vehicle from one state to another will not be granted until any unpaid user fee is cleared.
The project is aimed at enabling faster movement of security forces and military equipment during exigencies, while also improving connectivity to Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and other north eastern states.
The ministries of Road Transport & Highways and Railways have exceeded the national average capital expenditure (capex) by spending 63 per cent and 57 per cent of Budget estimates (BE), respectively, in the first half of 2025-26 (FY26). The total capital expenditure for April-September of FY26 stood at 52 per cent of the BE, according to the latest data by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).
'Within six months I expect petrol, diesel, and electric vehicles (EVs) to reach cost parity,' says Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.
The Supreme Court of India is considering formulating pan-India guidelines to prevent road accidents on expressways and national highways, following a fatal accident in Rajasthan. The court is focusing on the issue of illegal 'dhabas' and encroachments along highways as potential causes of accidents.
Months after the government increased renewal charges for older vehicles, the transport ministry has raised the fitness test fee for all motor vehicles older than 20 years to discourage people from keeping them.
The Supreme Court has directed the removal of all cattle and other stray animals from highways and expressways, citing safety concerns and frequent accidents.
'We hope we will be able to at least end crashes that involve collisions with stationary vehicles as there will be an automatic warning.'
The UK government has announced a new road safety strategy, including 'Dev's Law' named after an Indian-origin boy killed in a road accident, to reduce deaths and serious injuries on British roads.
'The recent occurrences of tunnel collapses during construction have prompted a critical assessment of current implementation methodologies and the necessary improvements to prevent such incidents from recurring.'
Among India's 150,746 railway bridges, 25.8 per cent are over a century old.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the government will introduce a FASTag-based annual pass for private vehicles, priced at Rs 3,000, effective from August 15, in a step towards hassle-free highway travel.
'The petrol lobby is very rich and strong.'
Under the new regulations, known as the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Amendment Rules, 2024, fees will now be charged on the actual distance travelled if the distance exceeds 20 kilometres.
Commuters on national highways and expressways will need to pay more for their road journeys, as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has increased toll charges by an average of 4 to 5 per cent on highway sections across the country. The revised toll charges for motorists on national highways across the country have come into effect from Tuesday, a senior highways ministry official told PTI.
The road transport ministry has allowed cab aggregators to charge up to two times the base fare during peak hours, as against 1.5 times earlier, while for non-peak hours the fare has to be a minimum of 50 per cent of the base fare.
'I am not an aspiration-oriented politician.' 'This is the time to redefine politics.' 'Politics of power is not real politics.'
'With new projects and recently awarded projects kicking in, capital expenditure should only increase going forward.'
'There is a clear relationship between the Char Dham road widening and these landslides.' 'The situation has further worsened with the massive influx of tourists whose number are running into several lakhs per month.' 'No parameters have been laid down to control tourist inflow and the result is that the Char Dham yatra has seen a sharp escalation in accidents and loss of lives.'
Ola Electric Mobility Ltd on Friday said ministries of heavy industries, and road transport and highways have sought information from the company over gap in vehicle registrations as per the Vahan portal and sales as per the firm's regulatory filing. Besides, the ministries have also sought clarification on reports "regarding non-compliance to the requirement of trade certificates", Ola Electric Mobility said in a regulatory filing.
After the success of the National Highways Authority of India's (NHAI's) first infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) with foreign institutional investors, the Centre is working on a proposal to launch a fresh InvIT for national highways, where domestic retail investors can hold units of the trust
Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said his ministry can address the water woes faced in parts of the country.
33 per cent of all road accidents and 35 per cent of fatal accidents took place on national highways and expressways.
While presenting the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament, the finance minister said poll-bound West Bengal will see highway projects worth Rs 25,000 crore. She also announced that highway projects worth Rs 65,000 crore will be undertaken in Kerala. She also announced an Rs 18,000-crore scheme to augment public transport in urban areas.
Gadkari is credited with the construction of more than 90,000 km of national highways and 30,000 km of new roads in the country in the last 10 years.
Ministry has set a target to spend Rs 5 lakh crore in road infrastructure
While mobility aggregators such as Rapido and Uber have welcomed the decision, gig workers associations and unions remain concerned.
MCA is a legal contract, which prescribes the terms and conditions for executing a road project.
'The Mumbai-Goa highway touches 66 tourism spots in Maharashtra's Konkan. It will give development a high boost. It will also ensure quick transportation of fruits and other produce the region is famous for.'
Siam argues that a 2040 ban could destabilise ongoing and future investments and threaten millions of jobs in the automotive value chain.
The Congress party has accused Union Minister Nitin Gadkari of conflict of interest, alleging his sons' companies have benefited from the government's ethanol blending policy. The BJP has rejected the allegations.
The Centre on Wednesday scrapped the mandatory human safety tests for electric vehicle (EV) batteries required to qualify for incentives under various government schemes. The ministry of heavy industries, in its fresh guidelines, has made compliance with the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH's) prevailing EV battery testing standards the only requirement to get incentives under the Centre's various incentive schemes.
'The vision now is not just to look at national highways as a number of kilometres, but quality as well.'
Various stakeholders, including about 600 developers, bankers and officials from various wings, including the National Highways Authority of India, will also be present.
Security forces in Manipur have launched a major crackdown on the banned People's Liberation Army (PLA) following an ambush on an Assam Rifles convoy. Fifteen cadres have been arrested, including suspects directly involved in the attack. Investigations are underway to determine if the PLA has political patronage and if weapons looted during ethnic clashes are being used against security forces.
The growing rift between MSIL and rival automakers has complicated the government's efforts to finalise the CAFE norms.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is looking to monetise 33 stretches of national highways during the current financial year (FY25) through its toll operate transfer (TOT) and infrastructure investment trust (Invit). These stretches include Lucknow-Aligarh, Kanpur-Ayodhya-Gorakhpur, and Bareilly-Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, Gurugram-Kotputli-Jaipur bypass and Jaipur-Kishangarh in Rajasthan, Panikoili-Rimuli in Odisha, Chennai Bypass in Tamil Nadu, and Muzaffarpur-Darbhanga-Purnia highway in Bihar. Cumulatively, the 33 stretches, spanning 2,741 kilometres (km) earned approximately Rs 5,000 crore revenue in FY24.
The bridge, constructed by the rural works department at a cost of Rs 10 crore, was not opened to the public as approach roads were yet to be constructed.
Road awards were muted in Q1FY25. But the pace will accelerate with a bidding pipeline of Rs 1.1 trillion (September 2024), mostly dominated by HAM (Hybrid Annuity Model) projects, which contribute 47 per cent and engineering procurement and construction or EPC projects, which have about 36 per cent share. Hence, infrastructure companies mostly reported revenue decline on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis in Q1FY25.
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