150 national and 32 state highway projects behind schedule

One hundred and fifty projects under the National Highway Development Projects and 32 with the State Public Works Department, each costing more than Rs 5 crore, are running behind the schedule, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

The main reasons for the delay are problems in land acquisition, utility shifting, obtaining environment clearance, poor performance of contractors and budgetary constraints, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways R P N Singh said in a written reply.

Singh said the steps taken for the speedy implementation of the projects included appointment of a nodal officer in each state for coordinating land acquisition, simplification of process of issue of notification and appointment of an officer of Railways in the National Highways Authority of India(NHAI) to coordinate with the Railways.

In reply to another question, Singh said NHAI had received a total cess, levied on sale of petrol and diesel, of Rs 6541.06 crore in 2007-08 and Rs 6407.45 crore in 2006-07.

"Cess fund is being utilised by NHAI for construction and development of National Highways under National Highways Development Project (NHDP), interest payment and repayment of borrowings," he said.

The cess is levied as per the provisions of the Central Road Fund Act 2000, he added.

Allocation of cess fund for utilisation from the Central Road Fund to each state is made on the basis of 60 per cent consumption of petrol and diesel, and 40 per cent of geographical area of the respective state.