Cabinet approves extension of completion date of NATRiP

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved extension of the date of completion of the present timeline by three years that is from December 31, 2014 to December 31, 2017 of the National Automotive Testing and RandD Infrastructure Project (NATRiP).

The extension of completion date will help the project to be completed as per the objectives of the project. This will ensure that state of the art automotive testing, homologation and RandD facilities are made available in India.

The project envisages setting up of a full-fledged testing and homologation center within the northern hub of automotive industry at Manesar in Haryana, a full-fledged testing and homologation center within the southern hub of automotive industry at a location near Chennai in Tamil Nadu, up-gradation of existing testing and homologation facilities at Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune and at Vehicle Research and Development Establishment

(VRDE), Ahmednagar.

The project also envisages setting up of world-class proving grounds or testing tracks on around 4,000 acres of land, including summer and winter pads, the locations of which would be decided with technical assistance from a reputed global consultant to be appointed on the basis of global tendering process., National Center for Testing of Tractors and Off-Road Vehicles together with national facility for accident data analysis and specialized driving training in northern part of the country at Rae Bareilly in of Uttar Pradesh and National

Specialized Hill Area Driving Training Center as also Regional In-Use vehicle management Center at Dholchora (Silchar) in Assam.

Array

The project envisages setting up of facilities at seven locations viz. Ahmednagar, Silchar, Raebareli, Pune, Manesar, Chennai and Indore.

NATRiP faced hurdles at various stages of implementation on account of delays in acquisition of land at various sites, delays in clearances, shifting of utilities, contractual complications, foreign exchange variation etc.