According to Gadkari, there are 348 under-construction projects that have spilled beyond one year of their original completion schedule as per contract, without attaining any of the various stages of project completion and excluding projects for termination or foreclosure.
Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, the minister said cost overrun have been incurred in some of the National Highway (NH) projects due to various factors, like enhanced cost of compensation for land and structures, price escalation, increase in Goods and Services Tax (GST), additional facilities, like vehicular underpasses, passenger underpasses, service roads on public demand or otherwise, change in General Arrangement Drawing (GAD)/design for road over/under bridges to meet the Railway standards, etc.
“The government has put in place a framework using multiple mechanisms for monitoring project progress and contractor-related issues. Regular review meetings are conducted at various levels with stakeholders to assess project progress and resolve the site-related issues of land acquisition, material availability, clearances, etc," he said.
Gadkari added that all efforts are made to resolve all such pending issues, including contractor/concessionaire-related issues, in close coordination with the state governments and other stakeholders, to complete these projects.
Replying to another question, the minister said that National Highway works are carried out as per standards, guidelines, manuals, code of practice of Indian Roads Congress, as well as specifications for Road and Bridge Works.
Road Safety Audit is carried out for the independent assessment of newly constructed roads before opening them to commercial traffic. All identified road safety issues, including those related to road signage and markings, are addressed before the road is opened to the public, said the minister.
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