India has built an impressive 35,335 kilometres of National Highways in the past three years and the ongoing fiscal year. This infrastructure boom generated nearly 49 crore man-days of direct employment
and around 58 crore man-days of indirect jobs, according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
Union minister Nitin Gadkari informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday in separate replies that highway development projects are known to generate substantial direct and indirect employment opportunities across various phases such as land acquisition, construction, material supply, transportation, consultancy, and later through increased economic activity resulting from improved connectivity.
“As per a study conducted by the government through IIT Kanpur on employment creation effects of highway construction, it has been estimated that development of each lane km of a highway generates about 4,500 person days of direct employment and 5,300 person days of indirect employment,” the ministry said in one of the replies.
A man-day is a unit of measurement representing the amount of work performed by one person in a single working day, typically considered as eight hours of labour. A lane kilometre is a segment of roadway that is one kilometre long and one lane wide.
Speaking about Bihar, the minister said it is estimated that approximately 3.16 crore person-days of direct and approximately 3.72 crore person-days of indirect employment has been generated in the last five years through the national highway projects in Bihar.
In Tamil Nadu, the government has constructed 2,685 km of NHs since April 2021, with estimated 3.61 crore man-days of direct employment and 4.26 crore man-days of indirect employment apart from 42.18 crore man-days of induced employment.
Gadkari also added that the infrastructure sector contributes to faster economic growth and development. “Capex incurred on development of NHs is one of the prime mover of the economy contributing to the faster economic growth and development,” he added.
The government has taken up development of access-controlled National High Speed Corridors and Expressways in total 8,391 km length, out of which 5,110 km has been constructed so far. “A total of 2,730 km length of access controlled National HSCs/Expressways has already been operationalised,” he added.
Gadkari informed the House that as of date, 1,240 NH projects in 29,406 km length costing Rs 7.80 lakh crore are under construction in the country.
