NHAI shells out Rs 22K cr as land compensation for projects

The government has to shell out a massive Rs 22,296 crore as compensation towards land acquisition for highway projects while projects worth Rs 9,256 crore had to be terminated, mostly on account of delay in land acquisition, Parliament was informed today.
During FY2015, the NHAI disbursed Rs 9,098 crore on land acquisition for highway projects while in 2013-14 and 2012-13, it spent Rs 7,794 crore and Rs 5,404 crore, respectively on the same, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Pon Radhakrishnan told Lok Sabha in a written reply.
He said several projects were either delayed or had to be terminated due to problems in land acquisition.

The projects terminated due to land acquisition included Rs 2,252 crore Kannur-Kuttipuram project, Rs 1,157 crore Karnataka-Kerala border-Kannur project and Rs 353 crore Chennai-Nada project.
"There have been delays in some of the projects due to land acquisition...National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has taken up the issue of delay with higher authorities of state governments," he said.
The steps taken to resolve problems related to land acquisition include setting up of high-powered committees by state governments with respective chief secretaries as nodal officers for National Highways Development Projects and effective monitoring of the projects.