Land acquisition,E&F clearance problems delay highway projects

The government today said that construction of highways in the country has been delayed due to problems in land acquisition and environmental clearances.

"Projects have been delayed mainly due to problems associated with land acquisition, obtaining environment and forest clearance and poor performance of some contractors due to cash flow constraints," Minister of State in Ministry of Road Transport and Highways R P N Singh said in Lok Sabha today.

At present 210 National Highway Development Projects (NHDP) are currently under implementation.

Singh, however, said that National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has set up regional offices to expedite implementation of projects.
    
"In order to expedite implementation of projects regional offices have been set up by NHAI, they would also monitor land acquisition matters as well as implementation of projects," he said.
    
Special land acquisition units are also being set up to expedite land acquisition, he added.