The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will not invite any bids for road projects until it has completed the process of land acquisition and shifting of utilities, and obtained in-principle forest clearance.
Similarly, the authority will not commence work on structures, such as flyovers, bridges and rail over bridges, until it has 100% of the land. This is among the new norms that the NHAI has set in its bid to end the trend of huge delays in highway construction on account of lack of required land, statutory clearances and shifting of utilities such as water and gas pipelines and power transmission lines.
Non-availability of land continues to delay the construction of flyovers on the Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch even seven years after work started on the corridor.
Similarly, the NHAI had to terminate the contract for the expansion of of Chennai-Tada highway project and Delhi-Dehradun stretch for non-availability of land.
Sources said 80% of the highway projects are delayed due to land related issues. Till now there has been a practice of awarding highway projects, and also commencing work, without having the required land and other necessary clearances. This often leads to litigation and road developers raising claims on the NHAI for its failure. TOI has learnt that because of the new norms, NHAI did not award a single project in April Ryan Pulock Jersey