Question : Pending National Highway Projects

(a) whether the Government has inquired into the reasons of delay in implementing projects of National Highways (NHs) in the country and if so, the details and outcome thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(b) whether the Government proposes to take action against those companies which have violated the contract agreement of NH construction projects and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(c) whether poor allocation of funds is the cause of sluggish progress in these projects, if so, the details thereof and the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to complete the said pending projects within a stipulated time-frame?

THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

(SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)

(a) to (c) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.




STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 346 FOR ANSWER ON 12.12.2019 ASKED BY SHRI SHANKAR LALWANI & SHRI K. NAVASKANI REGARDING PENDING NATIONAL HIGHWAY PROJECTS.

(a) Government holds regular review meetings at various levels with Regional Officers, State Governments and concessionaires/contractors to ensure completion of projects within stipulated time. However, projects sometime get delayed due to various reasons namely delay in land acquisition, utility shifting, environment/forest/wildlife clearances, ROB & RUB issues with Railways, public agitation for additional facilities, non-availability of soil/aggregate, geographical constraints & soil conditions, poor performance of contractors, arbitration/contractual disputes with contractors, inadequate cash flow by the contracting agency, etc.

(b) Violation of Contract Agreement is examined on case to case basis from time to time. Government takes action against the contractors in case of violation of Contract Agreement by the contactors as per the conditions of Contract including, but not limited to, imposition of penalties, termination of contract etc.

(c) No sir. However, to ensure timely completion of the ongoing projects various steps such as close coordination with other Ministries, revamping of dispute resolution mechanism, frequent review meetings with project developers, state government and contractors at various levels etc. have been taken up.
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