New Delhi: Awards for highway construction and new works fell to a seven-year low in 2025-26, official data shows. While the overall construction was less than 10,000 km, for the first time since 2019-20, barely 7,000 km was awarded in FY26.Reasons for the decline in performance on these two key parameters in the highway sector include strict pre-conditions of land availability and clearance being followed by road agencies before bidding for projects and a sharp decline in conversion of state highways to national highways (NHs).Officials said the agencies have maintained “self-restraint” to ensure that projects once put out for bidding do not get stuck or delayed due to non-availability of land and other issues such as forest and environment clearance and utility shifting.An official said, “Delaying projects serves no purpose; rather it results in cost overruns. A lot of efforts have been made to reduce the number of delayed projects. Second, the focus now is on creating more economic corridors and expressways rather than incremental expansion of existing highways.”The National Highways Corporation of India (NHAI), which is responsible for building and maintaining extensive highways, last week said the agency has constructed 5,313 km of NH, about 15% more than the target of 4,640 km for the year.Industry insiders said that since the number of NH development projects proposed by NHAI and other agencies has declined significantly, contractors are struggling to get work by quoting rates up to 42% lower than the bid prices. “The impact of bidding for fewer projects will be visible in the next few years,” said a senior executive of a major highway developer.