Tardy work delays highway sections

The government has identified 31 national highway upgradation sections, under the ongoing National Highway Development Project, where implementation schedules are set to overshoot targets by as much as 12 to 14 months.

The main reason for the delay in many of these sections is tardy work by contractors. Land acquisition problems, heavy rains and difficulties encountered in utility diversion are among the other reasons for delays, according to ministry of road transport and highways data.

The maximum number of sections, where delays are projected, are on National Highway No 5 (connecting Kolkata to Chennai), National Highway No 4 (connecting Mumbai to Chennai) and National Highway No 2 (connecting Delhi to Kolkata). In all, 12 of these 31 projects are on the NH-5.

In order to keep the delays at the minimum, the ministry had started taking up issues of land acquisition, removal of utilities and law and order problems with the respective state governments, officials involved in the exercise said.

The ministry has also asked the state governments to nominate senior officials as nodal officers to coordinate the execution of the projects with the National Highways Authority of India.

"We have introduced penalties for delays in completion of contracts, as well as incentives for early completion of projects. Contractors responsible for delay in project schedules due to tardy work will face penalties," an official said.

A total of 21 sections are faced with delays in implementation due to poor performance by contractors in terms of sticking to targets, along with reasons like cash flow problems, heavy rains and law and order problems.

The Westerly Diversion project on NH-4 was delayed by 14 months. Conversion of the section into an access-controlled facility delayed work.

The Balasore-Bhadrak section on NH-5 is likely to face a delay of almost 11 months, largely due to land acquisition problems and poor performance by the contractor.

The Laxmannath-Baleshwar section on NH-60 is another of the sections facing substantial delays of nearly 12 months due to land acquisition problems and stoppage of work by local people.

The NHDP comprises upgradation of around 13,000 km of national highways. Of the 5,846 km GQ project -- involving four-laning of highways between the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata -- 1,408 km of highways have been multi-laned so far.

By the end of December 2003, four-laning and upgradation in 2,630 km is expected to be completed. The ministry asserts that work on the project is largely on schedule in most sections.

Problems of law and order and lack of cooperation by some states for land acquisition has, however, posed a major problem.

Of the 8,603 hectares of land estimated to be acquired for ongoing projects under the programme, 6,412 hectares (74.5 per cent) has been acquired. The process of acquisition of the remaining land (around 2,191 hectares) is still in progress, an official said.

"There are land acquisition problems in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and to some extent in Orissa," the official said. Law and order problem in Bihar and adjoining areas are also adding to the problem, he said.

Further, contract awarding procedure to be followed on sections funded by World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are holding up commencement of work in these sections.