Parliamentary Panel expresses anguish over 888 delayed road project
The 31-member committee headed by Rajya Sabha MP T.G. Venkatesh reported, “Delays in completion of ongoing road projects cause a huge loss of time and greater consumption of fuel to the road users across the country, besides the increase in the project cost that has to be incurred by the ministry.” The committee said it must focus on and prioritise the completion of the ongoing delayed projects instead of announcing and awarding new road projects in the country.
The parliamentary panel highlighted that Maharashtra, compared to other states, has an enormously high number of delayed road projects. It expressed its concern over the fact that against a target of 6,469 km during the FY 2020-21 under the Bharatmala programme, the ministry has been able to award only 2,517 km till January 2021. It has also been able to complete construction of only 2,273 km, as against the target of 4,571 km.
The debt servicing liability of NHAI for the next three financial years are even higher than the estimates that the ministry had provided to the committee during its examination of Demands for Grants for 2020-21.
The panel recommended that NHAI should explore restructuring of its existing debt and prepare proposals to raise long-term funds through the upcoming Development Financial Institution proposed by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the budget.
It has been noted that the investment by the private sector has been less compared to the expenditure incurred by NHAI during 2020-21. For this, the panel has suggested the highways ministry to take concrete steps to motivate the private sector to participate in road infrastructure projects across the country.
Published on:
11 March 2021
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