India has one of the world’s largest road networks with National Highways spanning over, 46,500 km, and it appears it is about to get bigger as the huge country is currently in the process of developing a major new road network costing around £70 billion.

The Bharatmala Pariyojna project aims to interconnect 550 districts across India through enhanced infrastructure consisting of tens of thousands of miles of roads, corridors and bridges.

The proposal for the major project was presented on June 16, 2017, and the first phase was approved by October 2017. Since then, significant progress has been made on the network, with 21,597 km out of a total of 26,425 km completed.

India’s national highways account for 40% of the country’s road traffic, but with the Bharatmala network, the country has witnessed a significant boost to its infrastructure and road traffic management.

Once completed, increase the number of national corridors to 50 and double the 40% freight on National Highways to 80%. Highways from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and covering the entire tring of Himalayan territories are all part of the ambitious plan currently in the works.

In addition to the new roads, tunnels, bridges, elevated corridors, flyovers, overpasses, interchanges, bypasses, and ring roads, the construction plan also includes these elements to provide short and jam-free travel between different areas. A special focus is being made on providing connectivity to far-flung border and rural areas, such as the tribal and backward regions.

Phase 1 of the project was initially expected to be completed in 2022, but the deadline has been extended to 2027, and last June, Nitin Gadkari, the union minister for transport and highways, revealed that the construction cost of the first phase had already exceeded 40%.

India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ end-of-year review for 2025 revealed that the total capital cost award for the 26,425km of road is ₹ 8,53,656 Cr, which is approximately £70.41 billion.