Ministry asks NHAI to sort out row with road developers

The Union Road Transport Ministry and Highways has asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to expedite the process of resolving disputes with highway developers by the independent committee set up under the Authority to review individual cases and send its recommendations to the NHAI board. Since its inception earlier this year, the committee has taken up seven cases of pending claims but is yet to resolve any of them, said ministry officials.

At present, about 227 cases with Rs 10,963 crore of developer dues are stuck under arbitration or are pending in court. An official concerned in NHAI said that the Ministry has asked them to meet more frequently and would like them to sit each week, so that they can resolve multiple cases swiftly.

Many of these claims are due to delays in land acquisition, change in scope, officials' reluctance to sign off on deviations and cost escalations permitted under the contract, restricting the ability of developers to bid for new projects.