The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has made public its inaugural Sustainability Report for the fiscal year 2021-22. This report discloses the governance structure, stakeholders, environmental efforts, and social responsibility initiatives taken by NHAI. This Sustainability Report is constructed according to the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) which aims to attract ‘Green Finance’ for infrastructure financing.
Notable Insights From The Report
Amongst the key findings from the report, some prominent ones are given below:
Digitalization Of Highway Network
NHAI has developed a ‘Data Lake Tool’ that aids in digitizing the highway network across India. It enables efficient management of the large volume of data created from the infrastructure.
Reduction In Emissions
Between FY 2019-20 and 2021-22, NHAI managed to reduce direct emissions and fuel consumption by 18.44% and 9.49% respectively. Greenhouse gas emissions from energy consumption, operations, transport, and travel have also seen a reduction of 9.7% in FY 2020-21 and 2% in FY 2021-22.
Usage Of Recycled Materials
NHAI has put to use recycled materials for highway construction throughout the country. The materials include fly-ash, plastic waste, recycled asphalt (RAP), and recycled aggregates (RA).
Wildlife Protection Measures
In an effort to protect and conserve wildlife as well as reduce man-animal conflict, more than 100 wildlife crossings have been established in twenty states over the past three years.
Plantation Initiatives
In order to offset direct emissions from vehicles, NHAI has conducted plantation drives to develop eco-friendly national highways. Approximately 2.74 crore saplings have been planted until 2021-22.
Workforce Inclusion
The employment of women and marginalized communities at NHAI has seen a rise over the past three years. There has been an increase in female hiring by 7.4% and an overall increase of 3% in the workforce throughout the last three financial years.
About The Global Reporting Initiative
GRI is an independent international organization that aids businesses and other organizations in accepting responsibility for their impacts on the environment. It enables any company or organisation to report their economic, environmental, social, and governance performance.
About The National Highways Authority Of India
NHAI was established under the NHAI Act, 1988 and functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) along with various minor projects for development, maintenance and management have been entrusted to it. NHDP is a project which began in 1998 to upgrade, rehabilitate, and widen major highways in India to a higher standard.
About National Highways (NH)
NH are the arterial roads responsible for moving passengers and goods between states. They connect the National and State capitals, major ports and rail junctions, link up with border roads and foreign highways. As per MoRTH, India has 599 NHs. The longest among them is NH44 which connects Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, spanning a distance of 3,806 km (2,365 mi).
According to Basic Road Statistics 2018-19, National Highways (total length being 1,32,499 kms) comprise 2.09 % of the total road network in the country and carry about 40% of the road traffic. Maharashtra has the largest network of National Highways (13.4%) followed by Uttar Pradesh (8.9 %) and Rajasthan (7.8 %).
Understanding The New System Of Numbering National Highways
In 2010, the Government of India replaced the old system of numbering national highways with a new one. For instance, NH 4 now connects Port Blair with Mayabandar in the Andaman Islands. Similarly, NH 6 links Jorabat (Meghalaya) with Aizawl (Mizoram) and NH 15 connects Baihata-Charali (Assam) with Wakro (Arunachal Pradesh).
