India's Collapsing Roads and Highways Dent Modi Government's Image
India's rapidly expanding road infrastructure has been touted as one of the great success stories of the Narendra Modi era. However, the country's newly built expressways and national highways have developed cracks, potholes, and structural failures soon after opening, raising serious questions about construction quality, supervision, and accountability.
India's rapidly expanding road infrastructure has been touted as one of the great success stories of the Narendra Modi era. However, the country's newly built expressways and national highways have developed cracks, potholes, and structural failures soon after opening, raising serious questions about construction quality, supervision, and accountability.
The issue has become a major embarrassment for the Modi government, with several high-profile projects failing to withstand the stress test of even the season's first rains. The Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, inaugurated by Modi in April at a reported cost of about $1.258 billion, developed large potholes and cracks just three months after its opening.
The Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway, built at a cost of about $701.93 million, caved in barely weeks after its inauguration. To avoid embarrassment, the government launched repair works, but the sight of industrial electric fans lined up along a freshly built expressway to dry out waterlogged soil further dented the government's claims.
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway has not escaped the monsoon stress test. A contractor's contract was terminated by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) after repeated failures to meet contractual requirements.
Indians are accustomed to navigating potholes during the monsoon season, but deep craters on high-speed expressways could be life-threatening for drivers. The newly built expressways and national highways across and between major Indian cities have developed cracks, potholes, or structural failures soon after opening.
The NHAI has initiated proceedings to declare PNC Infratech, the developer of the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, a non-performing contractor after glaring lapses emerged in the construction quality of the newly inaugurated corridor.
The Times of India, in its editorial titled "Pothole Nation," said this characterizes recurring highway craters as systemic failures stemming from corruption and poor construction oversight. The London Times also weighed in, arguing that Modi's infrastructure boom is impressive in scale but increasingly marred by poor construction and failures.
The newly built roads, bridges, airport roofs, and underpasses have repeatedly developed serious problems. The paper pointed to around 170 bridge collapses between 2021 and 2025, causing about 200 deaths, along with several airport and road failures.
The potholes and cracks will be repaired in due course, but no action can repair the damage to the Modi government's image as a champion of a corruption-free India.
## India's Road Infrastructure: A Success Story or a Systemic Failure?
The Modi government has been touting India's rapidly expanding road infrastructure as one of the great success stories of the Narendra Modi era. However, the country's newly built expressways and national highways have developed cracks, potholes, and structural failures soon after opening.
## The Cost of Poor Construction Oversight
The issue has become a major embarrassment for the Modi government, with several high-profile projects failing to withstand the stress test of even the season's first rains. The Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, inaugurated by Modi in April at a reported cost of about $1.258 billion, developed large potholes and cracks just three months after its opening.
## The NHAI's Response
The NHAI has initiated proceedings to declare PNC Infratech, the developer of the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, a non-performing contractor after glaring lapses emerged in the construction quality of the newly inaugurated corridor. The NHAI has also terminated the contract of a contractor on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway after repeated failures to meet contractual requirements.
## The Impact on the Modi Government's Image
The potholes and cracks will be repaired in due course, but no action can repair the damage to the Modi government's image as a champion of a corruption-free India. The issue has become a major embarrassment for the government, with several high-profile projects failing to withstand the stress test of even the season's first rains.
