Gadkari slams delays, pushes for speedy execution of civic projects
Nagpur: With major civic projects like Sokta Bhavan commercial complex drawing zero bids despite two rounds of tendering, Union minister
Nitin Gadkari
on Saturday criticised officials over delays caused by poor coordination and waning private sector interest.
Reviewing a slew of stalled infrastructure works, he called for urgent measures to rebuild investor trust and fast-track execution of projects stuck due to red tape, land disputes, and agency overlaps.
During a review meeting, Gadkari instructed the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to immediately begin work on the Rs56 crore Pardi commercial market, stressing that the civic body already owns the required land.
However, the adjacent vegetable and mutton market project at the same site remains in limbo, as land transfer from the state govt is pending. Originally assigned to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) a decade ago, the agency withdrew after receiving Rs40 crore from the Centre.
NMC will now take it up under a design, build and finance model.
Municipal commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari, MSIDC managing director Brijesh Dixit, senior officials from NHAI among others attended the meeting.
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Gadkari also gave fresh impetus to the long-pending Kachipura redevelopment, where 65.95 acre land belonging to Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) is encroached upon by slums, garages, and eateries. Although the matter is pending before the high court, there is no stay on development. Gadkari proposed building a commercial complex on the land and directed the Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Corporation (MSIDC) to prepare a detailed plan.
He approved MSIDC's involvement in developing the Kamal Talkies vegetable market, earlier part of NHAI's Indora-Dighori flyover package but now to be taken up independently. The minister also reviewed redevelopment plans for Cotton Market, Dik Dawakhana, and other projects under MSIDC's purview, urging officials to resolve technical hurdles and expedite tenders.
Highlighting the lack of private participation, Gadkari cited the Sokta Bhavan project where not a single bidder came forward despite two tenders.
Now, in a bid to salvage the situation, NMC slashed the base price of the Sokta Bhavan project by 11% (from Rs144 crore to Rs128 crore) and floated a fresh tender to revive developer interest. Gadkari emphasised that such cases reflect a larger crisis of confidence among builders, stemming from fears of delayed clearances and poor returns.
To counter this, Gadkari proposed a dedicated workshop in the next 15–30 days where NMC and MSIDC will showcase all upcoming public-private partnership (PPP) and construction projects.
He is expected to address the developers personally to assure them of transparency and govt backing.
"These are not isolated projects — they involve overlapping roles of NMC, MSIDC, and NHAI. That's why such coordination meetings are essential," said an official present at the review, adding that unresolved land issues, funding gaps, and bureaucratic delays have stalled even previously sanctioned works. Gadkari urged officials to compile and present all project details in a transparent manner and hold departments accountable for delays.
He stressed that unless coordination improves and confidence is restored among private players, urban infrastructure development in Nagpur will continue to face bottlenecks.
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