Highways project: NHAI says Ball now in MoEF's Court

Delhi-Ludhiana Expressway talks begin, States express in-principle approval

With the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) stepping in to resolve the row between the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) over forest clearance to highway projects, the former has communicated that the ball is now in the latter’s court.

Senior officials in the NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said that the highway authority maintains its stand and has communicated the same to the Environment Ministry and the PMO.

The NHAI has been demanding that the environment ministry delinks the environment and forest clearance from each other, following which it will withdraw its court case against the ministry.

Last week, NHAI dragged the MoEF to the Supreme Court seeking a modification of the ministry’s criteria linking environment and forest clearance.

NHAI and MORTH claim that many highway projects have been stalled due to delays by the MoEF in granting forest clearance. The MoEF has maintained that the delay is more due to incomplete documentation by NHAI.

It has been reported that the PMO has directed the Environment Ministry to issue clarification delinking the two clearances.

Environment clearance was delinked from forest clearance until the apex court’s 2011 order in the case involving cement major Lafarge, which asked the Centre to make an interim arrangement for forest clearance until a national environment regulator was set up.

Following the Lafarge order, the MoEF went ahead linking the two clearances even to road widening projects. It now gives environment clearance to road projects only after forest clearance is obtained. NHAI argues that linking the two has delayed 22 projects that have already been awarded.

While NHAI applies for environment clearances, the states through which the road passes have to apply for forest clearance.

The unavailability of land, which the ministry of roads maintains is due to lack of environment clearances has resulted in two major exits from highway projects last week.

While GMR terminated the concession agreement with NHAI for the 555-km Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad project, a subsidiary of GVK Power and Infrastructure terminated a road widening project of in Madhya Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the minister of road transport and highways today informed mediapersons that the governments of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi have agreed to a proposal from the Punjab government for a 291-km Expressway between Delhi and Ludhiana. The expressway will also be linked with Chandigarh through a 91-km stretch, he added.

He also said that various options including financing through real estate development are being explored for financing the Rs 20,000 crore project. He said that the alignment of the project has not been decided yet.

However, officials close to the development said that the expressway might touch the cities of Gohana, Assandh, Kathal in Haryana and Samana and Nabha in Punjab.