“Our problem is we are unable to spend. Our speed of spending is too low,” Gadkari said, highlighting the need to accelerate project execution across the highways network.
He was speaking at the listing ceremony of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)-sponsored Raajmarg Infrastructure Investment Trust on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Its maiden public issue got oversubscribed by 14 times.
According to the minister, the government can potentially raise about ₹5 lakh crore annually from the market, supported by the strong asset base in the highways sector. This can be supplemented with the existing budgetary allocation of around ₹3.2 lakh crore for road infrastructure.
Gadkari said highway toll collection in India from different sources can increase to ₹3.5-4 lakh crore soon, from the current levels of ₹80,000-85,000 crore, as road projects and traffic keep increasing with the government’s focus on a leak-proof, digitised tolling system.
He said India will completely shift to the new multi-lane free-flow system, which uses AI and aims to create a barrier-free, leak-proof toll system by 2026 end.
Outlining future plans, Gadkari said the government aims to monetise 1,500 km of highways over the next three years through the InvIT route.