 "highway")
Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?
Amid severe political backlash, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is likely to respond to the conclusions made by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and allay the auditor's concerns about unrealistic cost escalations in the Dwarka Expressway project, among other possible lapses, a top ministry official said on Wednesday.
The CAG, in its report on the implementation of Bharatmala Pariyojana, found that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) board approved the Dwarka Expressway with "civil cost of Rs 7,287.29 crore with per km Rs 250.77 crore as against per kilometre (km) civil cost of Rs 18.2 crore approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)".
The source said that the auditor’s calculations do not factor in increased costs of land acquisition, the complicated nature of the project and the additional costs incurred on account of that, as it simply takes a broad-based average.
The Dwarka expressway, features an eight-lane and a six-lane tunnel, along with some elevated service roads, which require higher construction costs than basic highways.
“The average cost of an elevated road even in the most conservative scenario is at least Rs 100 crore per km. Moreover, the plan head of greenfield expressways in the Bhatratmala pipeline explicitly mentions that cost can be established after Detailed Project Report as there are no standard cost norms for these components,” the official said.
Also Read
According to the ministry’s estimates, the actual civil cost of the project is actually much lower than the CAG’s claim and even the initial estimate.
The average civil cost put to tender for all four packages of the Dwarka Expressway was Rs 206.4 crore, while the actual awarded civil cost was 12 per cent lower, at Rs 182 crore.
Another issue flagged by CAG was that executing agencies did not follow the appraisal and approval mechanism prescribed by the Union cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) for Bharatmala Phase-1.
"Out of 50 sample projects of NHAI, in the case of eight projects, appraisal by Project Appraisal and Technical Scrutiny Committee was not done due to either these being appraised under the NHDP programme or they being balanced works/ one-time improvement works," the report said.
