More funds for good roads, please: Survey

Identifying the need for Rs 1,72,000 crore (Rs 1720 billion) investment in national highways, the Economic Survey on Monday asked the government to gear up policies and institutions to meet specific requirements while increasing the outlay for road sector.

The 2005-06 Survey, tabled in Parliament, said the total investment requirement was enormous.  "Policies and institutions need to be geared up to meet the specific requirements of the infrastructure sectors in India."

Acknowledging an increase in budgetary outlay on roads financed through the enhanced road cess on petrol and diesel in 2004-05 and 2005-06, it said there is "need for faster consolidation as per the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act to open up fiscal space for higher outlays, both physical and social, continues."

The Survey said as on November 30, 2005, 6,271 km of roads under National Highway Development Project - with the bulk of 5,097 km lying on the Golden Quadrilateral – was complete. Another 6,179 km was under construction.

The award of contracts of the entire Phase-II – the North-south and East-West Corridors connecting Srinagar with Kanyakumari and Silchar with Porbandar - was likely to be completed by March 2006, except for Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal, where there were difficulties of terrain, alignment and environmental clearance.

"It is expected that the GQ would be substantially completed by June 2006, and the NS and EW corridors would be completed by December, 2008," the Survey said.

Thirty-one Build-Operate-Transfer contracts covering 1,600 km under Phase-II and Phase-IIIA (4-laning of over 4,000 km roads) have been awarded. Phase-IIIA was targeted to be completed by December, 2009.

"The constraints faced in the timely completion of NHDP are: Delays in land acquisition and removal of structures; law and order problem in some states; and poor performance of some contractors," it said.