NHAI slammed for non-completion of highways project

New Delhi, Dec 8: A parliamentary committee has slammed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for failing to complete the NHDP Phase-I, which is to connect the four metros through a chain of state-of-the-art highways, in a time-bound manner, resulting in cost overrun.

The Committee on Public Undertakings also found deficiencies in the monitoring role of the government for not effectively addressing the land acquisition related problems and pursuing the matter with the concerned state governments.

The NHDP Phase-I, comprising 6,359 km of road length at an estimated cost of Rs 30,300 crore, was to be originally completed by June 2004.

Presenting its report in the Lok Sabha today, the Committee, headed by Mr Rupchand Pal, MP, observed: ''The time and cost overrun was mainly due to inadequate planning and non-synchronisation of pre-construction activities, lack of coordination with governmental agencies, deficient Detailed Project Reports and ineffective contract management.'' These factors, coupled with inefficient performance of supervision consultants and civil contractors, resulted in extra payment and affected quality of work, it said.

The committee recommended that in order to revamp the monitoring mechanism of the projects, monthly progress reports for each project/sub-project should be prepared by the NHAI.

This should also be done by state nodal officers and submitted to Chief Secretaries concerned. Details should include status regarding land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement, obtaining of clearances and the names of officers and agencies responsible for these activities.

The committee also recommended that the Project Implementation Units (PIUs) of the NHAI should be given additional responsibilities to enable the supervision of projects more effectively. Acknowledging that land acquisition had been a major hurdle for NHAI, it recommended amendments in the NH Act, 1956 for prescribing a time-limit for arbitration proceedings and the possibility of acquisition through mutual consent.

In this connection, the panel recommended that the Committee of Secretaries, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, should hold review meetings at least every quarter to address the issues requiring immediate government attention.

It, however, noted with satisfaction that the NHAI had now revamped the system of DPR preparation, provided peer review of DPRs and associated its Field Officers in their preparation.

The committee recommended that the Inspection Cell, constituted by the NHAI in 2004 to inspect the working of Supervision Consultants should be revitalised and made more active.

It made serious reservations against overpayments made to contractors by the NHAI on account of Excise and Customs duty exemptions whereby the Authority lost Rs 30.69 crore Regarding toll revenue collection, the parliamentary panel said huge investments were involved in the construction and development of National Highways.

Observing that toll revenue was likely to attain ''gigantic amounts'' with the completion of subsequent phases of the NHDP, it recommended that the proposed modern toll collection system should be put into place at the maximum number of toll plazas in a time-bound manner.

UNI