A total of 489 road infrastructure projects, initially slated for completion by March 2025, are facing delays owing to issues related to land acquisition, forest and wildlife clearances, and railway approvals, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
In a written reply to the Upper House, Gadkari stated that the government is actively working to resolve these bottlenecks in coordination with state governments and relevant stakeholders to push the projects forward.
He also noted that some of the delayed projects have experienced cost overruns due to multiple factors such as increased land compensation costs, inflation, the impact of Goods & Services Tax (GST), and public demands for additional structures such as Vehicular Underpasses (VUPs) and Pedestrian Underpasses (PUPs).
Additional changes in project design have also contributed to rising expenses. “Change in General Arrangement Drawing/design for Road Over Bridges/Road Under Bridges to meet the Railway standards” was listed as one of the technical reasons leading to modifications and delays.
Gadkari further explained that if a project is “inordinately delayed due to some reasons and further progress under the ongoing contract is not envisaged, the contract is terminated/foreclosed and re-awarded, with or without modification in the project configuration.”
In response to another question in Parliament, the Minister clarified that national highways are constructed following the standards set by the Indian Road Congress, and added, “The maximum design speed specified for construction of national highways in different terrains is 120 km/h for expressways and 100 km/h for national highways.”