The ministry of road transport and highways plan to build 74 new tunnels stretching 273 km at a cost of Rs 1,00,000 crore over the next few years as part of its mega plan to strengthen India’s highway network while ensuring regular performance audits of all under construction projects, road minister Nitin Gadkari said.
Speaking at the second edition of Tunnelling India conference by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) on Tuesday, Gadkari underlined technology upgradation and cost-effective solutions to tackle the unique challenges of India’s diverse terrain while maintaining high-quality standards.“We need to find out exactly which is the best technology that is cost-effective without compromising on quality,” he said, suggesting the need for adopting global best practices in infrastructure development.
Gadkari said the government has already completed 35 tunnels spanning 49 kilometres at the cost of Rs 15,000 crore while 69 additional tunnels covering 134 kilometres are under construction and would cost around Rs 40,000 crore.
The minister highlighted the need for terrain-specific approaches, particularly in the challenging Himalayan regions and called for innovative solutions, such as precast technology and push-back techniques, to address recurring issues like landslides.
Emphasising the critical role of performance audits in ensuring project efficiency, Gadkari said, “performance audit is more important than financial audit”.
Gadkari said there is a need for a holistic evaluation of projects from the initial detailed project report (DPR) stage to implementation. “This approach would help achieve perfection in execution, optimal use of technology, and quality assurance while minimising capital investment,” he argued.
Reiterating that the quality of DPRs is very low in India, Gadkari said DPR consultants are not adhering to proper procedure in the construction of highways, roads and tunnels across the country.
