22 Greenfield Corridors in progress
Lack of coordination and communication between and within government agencies continues to delay decision making on projects as Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari continued his two-day review of projects on 24 Jan 2020.
Gadkari also instructed to start performance audit of officer and fix responsibility to delays.
Projects were delayed due to difficulties in land acquisition by State Governments and delay in regulatory clearances such as for quarrying among others.
The Minister reviewed about 740 National Highway Projects of 16 States were reviewed. General (Retd.) V. K. Singh, Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, joined the Minister in the review of all National Highway developments on 23-24 January 2020 at Manesar near Gurugram.
Gadkari went into the minutest of detail of every project making sure a clear path forward emerged to speed up projects. Officials and contractors also committed to redoubling of efforts to ensure timely completion of projects, said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in a release on 24 Jan 2020.
Contractors and Concessionaire raised issues timely approval of Extension of Time (EOT) and change of scope (COS) during the review.
As these timely approvals would help in facilitating lending by banks, an on-line tool called “GATI” has been launched and this will be closely monitored at the highest level.
The meeting concluded with all stakeholders committing to impart greater momentum to construction of highways by identifying issues holding up/delaying construction and completion of highways.
In order to carry the momentum of the meeting forward, Gadkari called for greater attention on monitoring and review at the official levels.
He has directed all chief engineers in the Ministry and all members of NHAI to organise “Review Mondays” on the first and third Monday of every month.
On these days no meetings other than for the purpose of review will be held by officials. Technology and video conferencing will be the means for review and monitoring.
These Mondays will be dedicated only for reviews to impart more focus on completing highway projects.
Delay in completion of projects has a high probability of leading to claims by contractors and hence the focus on review and monitoring by officials of the ministry will lead to cost savings in addition to timely delivery of projects.
Interacting with media after the meeting 24 Jan 2020, the Minister informed that 22 Greenfield Corridors of length 7,500 kms are being developed with a total capital cost of Rs.3.00 lakh crore.
Work has started on some while awarding all other projects are or will be completed expeditiously. These projects are being pursued vigorously and are being implemented on priority.
He added that besides reducing length and decongesting existing NHs, the projects will work as growth engines as they fast through the less developed backward / tribal areas.
The Minister also informed that the pilot project on convergence of National Highway works and conservation of water in Buldhana district in Maharashtra is running successfully.
As many as 152 villages benefitted covering a population of 483,360 where 22,800 wells were recharged and irrigation facilities increased in 1,525 hectares. These details were shared with all the Stakeholders in the review meeting with an aim to implement the scheme in more areas.
He also gave an update on FASTags, adding that 1.37 crore FASTages have been issued for use through 537 Toll Plazas. fiinews.com
