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National highway project awards fast-tracked

By Sohail Khan 9 September 2026, 12:00 am

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Business News›Industry›Transportation›Roadways›After two-year slowdown, national highway project awards fast-tracked

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After two-year slowdown, national highway project awards fast-tracked
Synopsis

National Highways Authority of India is accelerating project awards for the upcoming fiscal year. Seventy-two percent of identified projects are on track for early award. This rapid pace aims to reverse a recent slowdown in infrastructure development. Many projects require ministry and cabinet approvals before bidding commences. Uttar Pradesh and Telangana will receive the most highway projects.

NHAI road project awards surge in August (YoY), but funding concerns weigh on sector outlook: Nuvama — Around 72% of FY27 projects on track to be awarded within the first six months.

New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has fast-tracked national highway construction, with 72% of the projects identified for award in 2026-27 on track to be awarded within the first six months of the financial year. The pace marks a reversal of the slowdown in road infrastructure development over the past two years.

Of the 50 projects from the list of 54 identified for awarding in 2026-27, NHAI has secured approvals for 19, while 17 have been appraised and are likely to be approved soon. This takes the number of projects ready to be awarded in the current financial year to 36, while one project is awaiting sanction, according to official data.

Only 17 of the 50 projects are worth less than ₹1,000 crore and have been approved or are awaiting approval from the ministry of road transport and highways. The remaining 33 are high-value projects that require Cabinet clearance before bidding.

NHAI had in July made public a list of 54 projects with a total capital cost of ₹1.80 lakh crore, covering 2,442 km, that it plans to award in 2026-27.

The pipeline is significantly smaller than the 124 projects spanning 6,376 km, with an estimated capital cost of ₹3.45 lakh crore, that NHAI had identified for awarding in 2025-26. However, the faster pace of awards this year could help bridge the project pipeline deficit created over the past two years.

Of the 54 projects planned for award in the current financial year, Uttar Pradesh will get seven, followed by six each in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Punjab will get five; Gujarat and Karnataka four each; Delhi and Andhra Pradesh three each; Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha two each; and Assam, Kerala, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu one each.

NHAI plans to award 26 projects under the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode, 21 under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) and seven under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.

The road ministry has retained its targets of awarding and constructing 10,000 km of national highways in 2026-27, despite falling short of its goals last financial year. Highway construction reached about 9,400 km in FY26 against a target of 10,000 km, while awards totalled about 7,000 km.

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