The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) will obtain a record high allocation in the forthcoming Union budget, with the planned capital outlay likely to touch the Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark. It would be the highest ever allocation for the ministry yet. On February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to submit the Budget for the financial year 2022-23. In FY22, the capital outlay for MoRTH was Rs 1.18 lakh crore. In the financial year 2022-23, the outlay may be Rs 1.8 lakh crore, crossing the Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark for the first time. The development comes amid work going on the central government’s ambitious umbrella highway development scheme - Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I. The integrated project comprises construction of approximately 26,000 km length of economic corridors the North-South and East-West (NS-EW) and Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) strived to ease movement of freight traffic in the nation. Several greenfield expressways and other road projects are being planned in the poll-bound states such as Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Uttar Pradesh. Thus, these projects in these states are additionally likely to be specified in the Union budget in 2022. The rise in budget allocation for the ministry is meaningful as the government plans to implement infrastructure projects of Rs 7 lakh crore over the coming 2-3 years. Nearly 8,400 km of greenfield expressways are being constructed as part of the Bharatmala Pariyojana initiative. The projects including a length of 19,265 km have been granted for Rs. 5,60,216 crore. Of which, approximately 6,750 km has been achieved. According to the ministry data, approximately 4,076 man-days or nearly 15.5 man-years of employment is needed for the construction of one kilometre of the national highway. It means it would take approximately 14.2 crore man-days or 5.37 lakh man-years of employment for the execution of Bharatmala Pariyojana. Image Source