Govt fails to meet 15,000 km highways construction target

New Delhi: With the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways missing the target of national highways construction, it seems the tall claims of Union Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Minister Nitin Gadkari have fallen flat as the Centre has been able to construct only just 7,589 km of National Highways (NH) out of the total target of 15,000 in the current financial year 2017-18.

The government has been able to complete 50 per cent of the total NH target.

According to Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Mansukh L Mandaviya, the government has been able to complete construction of only 7,589 km out of its ambitious target of 15,000 kms for construction of national highways as on February 28 in the current financial year 2017-18.

In reply to a question asked by Rajya Sabha member Ritabrata Banerjee, who is under suspension from its party Trinamool Congress, Mandaviya said that the ministry is not going to finish the construction of 15,000 NHs in the current financial year.

Spelling out the reasons for the failure in meeting the target, the minister said, "Most of the NHs projects and achievement in physical targets are getting delayed to the problems of land acquisition, utility shifting, non-availability of soil/aggregates, poor performance of contractors."

Mandaviya further said that environment clearance, issues like rail over bridges (ROBs) and rail under bridges (RUBs) with Railways, public agitation for additional facilities, arbitration/ contractual disputes with contactors etc have lead to termination of projects. The minister further informed the House that regular meetings are held with project developers, state governments and contactors to ensure timely completion of the projects.