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National Highways
By A Special Correspondent
The National Highways falls within the domain of the Centre. The government of India meets the entire expenditure on its development and maintenance. In addition, financial assistance is also provided in the form of grants-in-aids and loans for the development of certain selected states, roads and bridges. Some funds are also provided to state governments and the Border Road Development Board for strategic roads and for certain roads in far-flung and inaccessible areas.
To enable better monitoring and faster implementation a full-fledged Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was carved out of the erstwhile Union Ministry of Surface Transport, in November 2000. This ministry has two wings, namely Road Transport and Highways. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and National Institute of Training of Highway Engineers are the two autonomous bodies under the administrative control of the ministry.
The total cost of prioritisation of development needs for the NH sector has been estimated at Rs 165,000 crore at 2000 price levels. Looking at the magnitude of the work involved, the Central government has over the last few years laid special emphasis on the development of National Highways. The total expenditure on roads, which averaged Rs 1,550 crore in 1997-98 and 1998-99, quadrupled to Rs 6,000 crore (Plan and non-Plan). In the subsequent year, the Plan and non-Plan expenditure was Rs 10,744 crore. During the current year (2001-02), the budgetary support has been pegged around the same level.
In fact, the government's spending during the five years is likely to exceed the estimates projected by the Working Group for the Ninth Five-Year Plan.
Each year, the ministry sets a physical target for road construction and also allocates funds.
ADD
It is worthwhile noting that allocations for National Highways works are made state-wise and not on the basis of the highways. In many cases the project is divided into phases and land acquisition is also done accordingly. Difficulties in land acquisition sometimes hinders project implementation. For instance, in the case of the four-laning work on NH-2 at Panagarh in West Bengal, the road had to be diverted due to heavy congestion in Panagarh Bazar (through which the highway was to have passed). As a result the road was diverted through a bypass which entailed an additional expenditure of Rs 45 crore.
Besides cost escalations these diversions also result in unnecessary delays in the projects.
Despite such problems the NH construction activity under the ministry is going ahead at a rapid pace. This is also one of the reasons for the ministry advancing the completion date of the ambitious Golden Quadrilateral project from December 2004 to December 2003.
(1/9/01)
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