West Asia conflict disrupts bitumen imports, slows India's road projects
India's big plans to build highways and rural roads have hit a speed bump, thanks to the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
Since India gets about 30% to 40% of its bitumen, a key ingredient for making roads, from countries like Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran, the turmoil there has caused imports to drop sharply.
This is making it tough to meet targets like building 10,000km of highways and 17,365km of roads remain to be constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) Phase-III.
Bitumen at ₹80,000 per ton
With imports down and domestic production unable to keep up, bitumen prices have shot up to ₹80,000 per ton, making life especially hard for smaller contractors.
The government has rolled out measures like force majeure clauses for delays and price adjustments to help out, but the supply crunch is still slowing projects across the country.