The government’s National Highway Development Program will now focus on building more greenfield highways rather than expanding the existing network, signalling a significant shift in focus. 

According to the media, the next phase of Bharatmala-ll, which will see nearly 8,500 km of national highways (NHs) built for Rs 3.5 lakh, will primarily focus on greenfield corridors. Pune-Bengaluru, Chennai-Trichy, Varanasi-Kolkata, Gorakhpur-Siliguri, and Hyderabad-Bengaluru are just a few of the stretches that have been identified. 

The government is expected to launch a comprehensive programme for ropeway projects, which have enormous potential to improve connectivity in the hill states. Nearly 50 proposals for ropeway projects have been submitted by Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Manipur. In the case of Bharatmala-ll, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been preparing detailed project reports (DPRs) for these stretches to begin inviting bids as soon as the scheme is approved by the Union cabinet.