The Government is contemplating scrapping at least eight long-delayed National Highway (NH) projects, which are stuck due to land acquisition problems and where there has not been any headway despite construction norms having been altered.
Of the 26 big road projects which are held up due to a host of reasons, 16 have been impacted by land acquisition issues. “We do expect to resolve issues facing most NH projects but a resolution isn’t in sight in as many as eight-nine other projects due to an absolute deadlock,” said an official.
“The 16 major National Highway projects entail about Rs15,000 crore in investments. Of them, seven are in West Bengal alone, six in Kerala, two in Goa and one in Tamil Nadu,” said an official.
“We might scrap or delay the construction of at least eight-nine of these projects though no formal decision has been made yet,” he said.
In a meeting of officials, Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had recently asked them to review all the road projects facing problems. He asked them to discuss with State heads possible resolutions after studying individual projects.
“The Minister has decided to review all the stuck projects individually before taking a decision. He is keen on starting the projects, instead of shelving them,” said the official.
“From the current situation, we are assessing that we should not have much problem in resolving issues in Tamil Nadu and Goa but West Bengal offers no hope,” he said.
The arterial highway project in West Bengal is the four-laning of NH-34, which has been stuck for over six years. The project was planned to be completed in three packages. For this, 1,336 hectares of land was required. At present, the State has been able to acquire only about 420 hectares, which is barely 30 per cent of the total land needed for the project.
“The Minister has met Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee at least twice over the land acquisition issue but there has very been little headway,” said official.
In Kerala, the development of two prominent highways — NH 17 and NH 47 — has been long pending due to land acquisition problems. Even altering road specifications hasn’t helped matters. Generally, NHs everywhere in the country have been broadened to six lanes with a width of 60 metres. Though Kerala altered its norms to 45 metres, it is still unable to make any headway.
In Tamil Nadu, land acquisition along NH 17 and NH 47 are blocking development. Even here, the norms have been revised from 60 metres to 45 metres but work in some sections is at a standstill.
Gadkari is expected to convene a detailed meeting to resolve the issues holding up the projects later this month.