Question : CONVERSION OF NHs

(a) the total number of National Highways (NHs) in the country including two/four/six-lane National Highways, State-wise particularly in Rajasthan;

(b) the policy formulated by the Government with regard to maintenance of two/four/six/eight lane National Highways (NHs) in the country;

(c) the details of the proposals received by the Government for conversion of two lane highways into four/six/eight-lane and approved during the last three years and the current year, State-wise;

(d) the present status of these projects along with the details of funds allocated and expenditure incurred thereon during the said period, State-wise;

(e) whether some of these projects have been delayed;

(f) if so, the details thereof State-wise, along with the reasons therefor and the time by which these projects are likely to be completed; and

(g) whether NH-14 (Byawar-Rali-Pindwara) is being maintained as per the policy and if not, the reasons therefor?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI SARVEY SATHYANARAYANA)

(a) The State/Union Territory (UT)-wise details of National Highways (NHs) in the country including two/four/six-lane NHs, including in the State of Rajasthan are at Annexure-I.

(b) to (f) The development and maintenance of NHs is a continuous process and works are taken up keeping in view availability of resources and inter-se priority. As per the Ministry’s policy, actions are initiated for entrustment of the NH stretches included under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at the time of issue of Request for Proposal (RFP) by NHAI. Till that time, these NHs are maintained by the State Public Works Departments (PWDs) / Border Roads Organization (BRO) in such a manner that there is no difficulty in movement of traffic.

For the stretches of NHs where 4/6 laning works are under implementation by the NHAI, the maintenance of existing roads is being carried out by the Contractor/ Concessionaire as part of their obligations under contract/concession agreement. In case of sections entrusted to NHAI, where 4/6 laning have not yet started, the maintenance of existing roads is being carried out by NHAI directly or through State PWDs. Completed sections of NHAI funded projects are being maintained through Operation and Maintenance (O&M) / Operate-Maintain-Transfer (OMT) contracts and the sections being developed under Built Operate Transfer (BOT) basis are being maintained by the concessionaire.

The maintenance of other stretches not included under NHDP are done by the concerned executing agencies as per availability of funds, extent of damages, inter-se priority to keep the NHs in traffic worthy conditions.

The State-wise details of proposals received from the State Government for conversion of two lane highways into four/six/eight-lane and approved during the last three years and the current year are at Annexure-II. All these projects are at various stages of progress.

(g) Maintenance of Byawar-Pali-Pindwara section of NH-14 is being done by the concessionaire as part of their obligations under the provisions in the Concession Agreement.