76 national highway projects of about Rs 62k cr face inordinate delays

28 Sep 2021 CW Team

As many as 76 national highway projects of the National Highways Authority of India amounting to around Rs 62,000 crore are facing delays related to land acquisition and statutory clearances even after four years.

The highway projects are yet incomplete due to land acquisition, statutory clearances, utility shifting delays and the issues of cash flow to the contractors and highway builders.

Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari told the officials to speed up the delayed NH projects and release dues to the contractors in time.

Gadkari asked the officials to be more time-sensitive while taking decisions to avoid delays. NHAI has set a target to complete 87% of the delayed projects by June 2022, while the remaining 13% would take a longer time.

Officially, in FY 19-20 and FY 20-21, NHAI has bid out 236 projects of 8,091 km long with Rs 2.59 lakh crore investment. But still, work is yet to begin in 93 projects because of the non-availability of encumbrance-free land and transfer of land ownership by the respective state governments.

Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) is also a major reason for the delay in work commencement, and the private players are still struggling to tie up finances from finance providers.

A parliamentary panel also reported a delay in 888 NH project completion of 27,665 km long and asked the ministry to prioritise the delayed projects.

NHAI has informed the ministry that out of the 203 cases that have been referred to the conciliation committees, 116 have been solved. These issues contain Rs 37,287 crore claims from the contractors and Rs 7,281 counter-claim from NHAI. These issues have been concluded at Rs 10,870 crore.

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