Parliament Question: Sustainable and environment friendly transport system

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - 4255 ANSWERED ON – 01/04/2026 SUSTAINABLE AND ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY TRANSPORT SYSTEM

4255. SHRI SANJAY RAUT:

Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) the total number of National Highway projects currently under implementation across the country;

(b) the number of such projects that are pending or delayed along with the estimated cost involved, particularly in the State of Maharashtra;

(c) the major reasons for delay or pendency of these projects, and;

(d) whether Government proposes to promote sustainable and environmentally friendly transport alternatives such as metro rail, monorail, rapid train systems or sky bus corridors along major highways to reduce environmental impact; and

(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, reasons therefor? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)

(a) to (c) Currently 1,239 National Highway (NH) projects are under construction without attaining any of the various stages of project completion and excluding projects under consideration for termination / foreclosure. Of which, 660 projects (worth about Rs. 4.2 lakh crore) have spilled beyond their original completion schedule including 62 projects (worth about Rs. 38,700 crore) falls within the State of Maharashtra.

The primary reasons for delay in NH projects are issues / bottlenecks relating to land acquisition, statutory clearances / permissions, utility shifting, encroachment removal, law &

order issues, financial crunch affecting implementation capacity of Concessionaire / Contractor, poor performance of Contractor / Concessionaire, and some Force Majeure events etc.

(d) & (e) The Government in Ministry of Road Transport & Highways is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of NHs. The Government has taken up

following major sustainable and environment friendly transport alternatives:-(i) Metro rail:- Length of Metro rail has increased from about 248 km in 2014 to about 1,145 km at present.

(ii) Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS):- 3 RRTS in about 400 km has been taken up, of which Delhi – Meerut section of 82 km has been operationalised.

(iii) High-Speed Rail corridors: - Seven High-Speed Rail corridors between cities as ‘growth connectors’, namely i) Mumbai-Pune, ii) Pune-Hyderabad, iii) Hyderabad-Bengaluru, iv) Hyderabad-Chennai, v) Chennai-Bengaluru, vi) Delhi-Varanasi, vii) Varanasi-Siliguri, to promote environmentally sustainable passenger systems has been announced by the Government.

(iv) Ropeways:- 8 ropeway projects in a length of about 36 km as a last mile / remote / tourist connectivity to promote environmentally sustainable alternate mobility solutions have been awarded. *****