Land acquisition, green clearances delay 489 national highway projects: Gadkari
Price escalation of materials.
The impact of Goods & Services Tax (GST).
Public demand for additional underpasses and overpasses.
Design changes required for bridges to meet railway standards.
By ,
ETInfra
As many as 489 national highway projects, originally slated for completion by March 2025, are running behind schedule due to persistent delays in land acquisition, forest and wildlife clearances , and railway approvals, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari stated that the government is making all efforts to resolve the pending issues in close coordination with state governments and other stakeholders to complete these projects.The minister acknowledged that these delays have led to cost overruns in some projects. He attributed the increased expenditure to several factors, including:Gadkari added that for projects that are "inordinately delayed" with no prospect of progress under the current contract, the ministry terminates the agreement. These projects are then re-awarded, sometimes with a modified configuration, to ensure their eventual completion.Responding to a separate query, the minister clarified that all national highways are constructed according to the specifications of the Indian Road Congress (IRC). He specified that the maximum design speed is set at 100 km/h for national highways and 120 km/h for expressways in plain terrain.
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