Despite the second wave of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions across the country, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has set a target to construct a combined length of 4,600 km of new highways in the fiscal year 2021-22, up from a combined 4,192 km constructed in the last fiscal year, a government official said on Thursday, May 27.
The official said that, at the micro level, the construction target has been set at 40 km/day, up from 36 km/day achieved in the previous fiscal year.
The official said that the higher rate of construction of highways will offer significant demand for secondary steel producers, particularly in view of the government relaxing norms permitting the use of the steel products of secondary steel mills in highway projects.
Earlier, standards and rules laid down for construction of highways permitted use of steel products only sourced from primary steel mills, the official said.
Under the new rules announced by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, all steel whether produced from ore, pellets, billets or ferrous scrap melting will be permitted in construction of highways as long as the finished products meet standards for specific grades of steel used in projects.