Gadkari reviews progress of NH projects, calls for speedy implementation

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday held a day-long review of the progress of national highways projects at the NHAI headquarters and directed officials to speed up their implementation through faster decisions and stricter monitoring.

"There is an urgent need to develop a positive, transparent, corruption-free working system with time-bound decision making. Delayed decisions are totally unacceptable," the Road Transport and Highways Minister said.

He said that a delay in decision-making leads to colossal loss of time and resources and adds to the woes of people.

He also directed regional officers of the NHAI to be proactive in coordinating with district officials to fast track land acquisition and other such issues.

Gadkari, along with the MoS, Gen (Retd) VK Singh also addressed regional officers through video conferencing and emphasized Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stress on the need for fast growth of infrastructure.

Gadkari also talked about the need to bring down construction costs through new technology and innovative means.

"There is enough availability of funds for the construction of national highways through various sources including long term funding from banks. However, in order to improve the economic viability of projects it is necessary to cut down construction costs by employing new materials, innovative technology and by fast-tracking decision making to avoid associated cost escalation," he said.

He also stressed upon the need for performance audit and said that officials must ensure that the award and construction targets for the year are fully met.

Singh, on his part, called for positive, concerted action aimed at fulfilling the targets of the Ministry and the expectations of the people of the country.

The leaders also inaugurated NHAI's GIS-based Plantation Monitoring System that assigns a unique digital address to each sapling planted on a national highway, making it possible to monitor its progress.