Bengaluru: The central government, over the past five years, spent Rs 43,796 crore on developing and maintaining national highways in Karnataka, placing the state fourth in the country after Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar, data tabled in the Lok Sabha by Nitin Gadkari, road transport and highways minister, revealed. While Rs 1 lakh crore and Rs 96,000 crore were spent in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively, officials say Karnataka’s allocation largely reflects expansion rather than upkeep. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials in the state said most projects are executed under build-operate-transfer (BOT) and hybrid annuity models, limiting direct govt spending on maintenance. “The only area where expenditure is incurred is in EPC contracts,” said Vilas P Brahmankar, NHAI regional officer. Karnataka has around 8,000km of national highways, which officials say justifies the scale of investment. However, the ministry has flagged 67 problematic stretches nationwide, two of which are in the state. A portion along NH 948 between Bandipur Tiger Reserve and Bengaluru saw a 10-metre stretch collapse in 2025 and is now under repair based on recommendations from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. The stretch sees much traffic. More serious was the collapse of three spans on the Kaali bridge along NH 66 in 2024, a key link between the Goa-Karnataka border and Kundapur. The contractor involved was debarred the same year. On the revenue side, Karnataka collected Rs 16,140 crore in toll fees over five years, with collections rising to Rs 4,320 crore in 2024-25 alone. The state ranks fifth in toll revenue, behind Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. However, data also suggests a widening gap between highway expansion and maintenance, even as user fee collections continue to climb. “Several stretches on highways are either incomplete or in shambles, defeating the whole purpose of constructing such highways,” an official said.
