Of the total 29,337 km length of projects, only 8,632 kms length of projects has been awarded and 1,040 kms length of projects have been appraised so far under the Bharatmala Project phase-1 which is targeted to be completed by 2021-22. The Detailed Project Report for a length of 19,665 kms is still under preparation stage when only two years are left as per the schedule fixed for completion of Phase-I. Taking note of slow pace of work, a parliamentary committee on transport, tourism and culture asked the Government to examine the causes for delay in construction of Roads under Phase-I and take requisite remedial measures expeditiously so as to remove the stumbling blocks in order to achieve the targets fixed.
“In the course of examination, it was seen that there were about 375 projects of National Highways including Bharatmala, pending due to reasons like Land Acquisition, forest clearance, utility shifting, and contractor issue and so on in various States. These included projects across the country namely in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. These projects have surpassed their date of completion and the Government apparently has not reviewed them,” the parliamentary committee said in its report, which tabled in the Parliament on Tuesday.
The Committee noted with concern that some NH projects are delayed due to multiple reasons which inter-alia include poor performance of contractor, utility shifting, delay in environment/forest clearance, land acquisition, cash flow problem of the concessionaire/contractor and so on. Delay in the projects has resulted in increase in the overall cost of the projects.
The Committee are constrained to note that there is time and cost over-run in many projects of the Government. “Amongst them, for example, is the Char-Dham Mahamarg Vikas Priyojana - Improvement of NH Connectivity to Char-Dham (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri& Gangotri) in the State of Uttarakhand, foundation stone of which was laid in December, 2016 by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. It was initially targeted for completion by March 2020, but the Committee was informed that it has been delayed due to litigation relating to forest and environment clearance in various 63 courts and the exact date of completion of the programme depends on the final outcome of the case,” the report said.
The Committee also recommended that 4-laning of Pune-Nashik (NH-60), Pune-Tamhini-Mangaon-Diveagar (NH-756), Hadapsar-Saswad-Jejuri-LonandPhaltan-Mohol (NH-965), Patas-Baramati-Akluj-Tondale (NH-65G) and 6-laning of Pune-Solapur (NH-65), Kolhapur to Vaibhavwadi-Vijaydurg under Bharatmala and Alibaug to Sindhudurg coastal National Highway in the State of Maharashtra, extension of Patna-Areraj road to Bettiah, Ramgarhwa and Raxaul in the State of Bihar, road connecting Anmod at the border of Goa to Londa, widening of Sundar Bani-Seri-Jangar-Lam Road in Rajouri district in Jammu be taken up at the earliest.