The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has selected Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway, totaling a distance of 1880 kilometers, as its pilot projects for constructing OFC infrastructure. Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister MoRTH, answered a supplementary question in the Lok Sabha.

February 14, 2023

Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), in his Lok Sabha address, shared the ministry’s plans for two pilot projects for laying Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) alongside Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway.

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The two highways stretch over a distance of 1880 kilometers and integrated utility corridors, including OFC infrastructure, of 2-3 meters on each side have been planned. The ministry plans to use the land available up to a width of 120 on the Delhi-Mumbai expressway for expanding the highway into 16 lanes corridor, constructing bullet trains track, and Hyperloop.

A widescale of greenfield national highway projects are in pipeline, to achieve the target of developing 200,000 kilometers as national highways by 2025, and all these shall include the OFC infrastructure, along with a few existing ones. Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway greenfield projects have been shortlisted as pilot projects.

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The MoRTH shall use the learning, experience, and outcome of feasibility studies on the pilot projects to frame further plans. Since the overall project will be costly, the government could be expected to issue lease tenders in the future to optimize unused additional capacity.

The OFC infrastructure shall help provide dark fibre internet connectivity to the remotest areas of India.