NHDP phase-I to be complete by '04

The first phase of the prime minister's ambitious Rs 58,000 crore (Rs 580 billion) National Highway Development Project, connecting four metros with four/six lane roads, will be completed by 2004 end, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Sripad Y Naik said on Wednesday.

The Golden Quadrilateral, involving four-laning of highways between the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, would now be completed by December 2004, he told reporters in New Delhi.

"GQ part of NHDP was originally planned to be completed by 2004 and we are now going by that deadline," he said.

"There are land acquisition problems in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and to some extent in Orissa (which is delaying the project).

"Besides, law and order problem in Bihar and adjoining areas are also contributing to the delay," he said, adding some of the delay was also due to contract awarding procedure of multi-lateral agencies like the World Bank.

Of the 5846-km GQ, 1327-km has already been completed while another 4383-km was under implementation. Contracts for the balance 136-km was yet to be awarded, he said.

The Phase-II, comprising North-South corridor linking Srinagar to Kanyakumari and East-West corridor joining Silchar with Porbandar with four/six lane highways, would be completed by the end of 2007.

Of the 6858-km NS-EW corridors, 630-km have already been four-laned while 416-km was under implementation.

Contracts for the balance 5812-km was yet to be awarded.