Over 1,200 national highway projects cleared in four years; Maharashtra leads

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has approved more than 1,200 development and upgradation projects on National Highways across the country in the past four years, with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu among the top states to secure the highest number of clearances.

According to official data, the government sanctioned a total of 1,229 highway projects between 2021-22 and 2024-25. These works together span several thousand kilometres and run into lakhs of crores in expenditure. Maharashtra topped the chart with 257 projects cleared over the four-year period, followed by Uttar Pradesh (120) and Tamil Nadu (106).

Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, in his written reply, said highway construction and maintenance was a “continuous process”, and projects were taken based on traffic density, connectivity needs, road conditions, and their fit within the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan.

A year-wise breakdown shows a steady flow of approvals: 606 projects were sanctioned in 2021-22, 650 in 2022-23, 390 in 2023-24 and 368 in 2024-25.

While some states saw consistent clearances year after year, others, such as Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, received approvals only in select years.

The financial outlay reflects the wide disparity between states. Kerala, for instance, had just 26 projects cleared over four years, but the sanctioned cost exceeding Rs 33,000 crore, owing to high land acquisition and construction expenses. In contrast, Haryana saw approvals for 32 projects with a combined cost of around Rs 23,000 crore.

Projects pending or rejected were not detailed in the reply, with the ministry maintaining that proposals were examined on inter-se priority and financial viability before clearance.