Target to award Rs 50,000-cr highway projects in next 3 months: Gadkari

The government has set a target to award highway projects worth Rs 50,000 crore in the next three months, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

The projects will cover a length of 4,471 km of highways.

"Award of road projects covering a length of 4,471 km with an approximate cost of Rs 50,000 crore has been targeted during next three months," Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari told Lok Sabha in a written reply.

He said 168 road projects covering length of 3,215 km have been awarded since April 2019 till date.

In reply to another query, Gadkari said currently the National Highways Authority of India is executing more than 400 road projects with cost exceeding Rs 50 crore.

These projects comprise length of around 24,000 km in the country.

"Some of the National Highway projects are running behind schedule due to multiple reasons, such as poor performance of contractor, utility shifting, delay in environment/forest clearance, land acquisition, cash flow problem of the concessionaire/contractor and law & order problems etc," he said.

The steps taken by the government to expedite projects include streamlining of land acquisition, revamping of disputes resolution mechanism and award of projects after adequate preparation in terms of land acquisition, clearances, among others, he added.