Economic Development

Estimated delay of 6 years in ‘Bharatmala Project’ (BMP)

Estimated delay of 6 years in ‘Bharatmala Project’ (BMP)

Recently, ‘Bharatmala Project’ (BMP) has been estimated to be delayed by 6 years by SEBI’s rating agency ICRA.
It is to be known that under the Bharatmala project, the government is working on an ambitious road connectivity project.
According to rating agency ICRA, this project is likely to be completed in FY
Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India (ICRA) is a credit rating agency registered and authorized by SEBI of India. It was established in
Initially, it was targeted to be completed by FY

Key reasons for project delays:

Delay in land acquisition,
Significant increase in the cost of land acquisition,
COVID-19 pandemic etc.
Financing is a big problem. Its cost has almost doubled since 2015.

The Bharatmala project was announced in the year 2015. It was launched under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Its main objective is to improve the efficiency of movement of goods and people across the country. Under Phase-I, a target was set to develop 34,800 km of highways by FY 2022. In Phase-II, a target has been set to develop about 48,000 km of road network across India by the year 2024.

Need for Bharatmala Project

It will improve the efficiency of the existing corridor by developing multimodal logistics parks and eliminating choke points.
Under this, the focus will be on improving connectivity in the Northeast. Also, inland waterways will also be taken advantage of. There is a lack of infrastructure to act swiftly in the event of accidents. This project will fill this gap.
This will give impetus to the use of technology and scientific planning for project preparation and asset monitoring.

6 main features of Bharatmala-