New Delhi: Over 40 per cent of the ongoing 1801 road projects are facing delay as on February 23, revealed government statistics presented in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. According to a written reply by the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in Rajya Sabha out of the 1801 ongoing projects are running behind schedule due to protracted monsoon and above-average rainfall in many states.
According to the written reply by the Union Minister several other reasons such as the Covid-19 pandemic, increase in the price of raw materials (mainly steel), issues and bottlenecks relating to land acquisition, statutory clearances and permissions, utility shifting, encroachment removal, law and order, non-availability of soil/aggregate, the financial crunch of Concessionaire/Contractor, poor performance of Contractor/Concessionaire have contributed to the delay.
He further stated that additional cost is not incurred in all delayed projects adding in the case of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) there is no cost escalation due to delay as escalation cost is absorbed by the Concessionaire.
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"For other projects, if delay is attributable to the Project Authority, price escalation is paid as per contract conditions, which may or may not result in additional cost, depending upon final value of price escalation determined on actual completion of project and final settlement of bills," stated Gadkari. " However, if delay is attributable to the Contractor, damages are imposed and price escalation is not paid, and there is in no additional cost due to delay," he added.
Answering a separate question, the Union Minister said that from 2016 to February 2023, the National Highways Authority of India has planted 344.27 lakh trees under the green highways policy.
In response to a separate question, Gadkari said that an agreement has been signed between India and World Bank for the construction of Green National Highway Corridors Project for a total length of 781 km in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh adding that a loan assistance of $500 million against total project cost of $ 1,288.24 million (Rs 7,662.47 crore) by the World Bank.
