Land acquisition hits NH projects in Bengal, Kerala

NEW DELHI: Kerala and West Bengal, where land acquisition for road widening is a major impediment for highway expansion, are feeling the heat of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is threatening to abandon projects. The fear stems from the fact that the Authority has already abandoned two projects in Goa on similar ground, a Times of India report said.

"We are facing the worst situation in Kerala and West Bengal. In Kerala, the cost of land acquisition is very high and unviable," said a senior NHAI official. In Bengal, there is a major problem in disbursement of compensation for land acquisition.

An official cited a project in Kerala, where the cost of land acquisition would be 40% higher than the total project cost. Sources said that the Authority has asked the Kerala government to rationalize the land acquisition cost else the project could never take off.

They added that the owners of properties, which are adjacent to the existing highway stretches, want higher compensation. "Compensation for land acquisition at such high value is unacceptable," an official said.

NHAI chairman R P Singh recently wrote a letter to Kerala chief secretary Jose Cyriac, citing his displeasure at the tardy progress in land acquisition for stretches along the NH-17 & 47 from Karnataka/Kerala border, Kannur-Vengalam-Kuttipuram and Thiruvananthapuram-Tamil Nadu border from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram. He said that NHAI would have no option other than abandoning these projects.

The Authority had awarded these works to concessionaires in 2009 and 2010. NHAI feels that delay in handing over right of way (RoW) to private builders would increase land acquisition cost and in turn escalate the expense for construction.

Concessionaires are disinterested in highway projects since the general public are apathetic to paying toll charges. Highways minister C P Joshi raised this issue when he met Kerala CM Oomen Chandy recently here.

NHAI has written a letter to road transport and highways ministry urging it to push state governments to sign the State Support Agreement (SSA) for smoother execution of projects, and failing so it would pull out.

SSA is an umbrella promise from states to cooperate and facilitate road projects, including allowing concessionaires to collect toll. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, however, have still not signed the agreement.

While progress of work is better in Gujarat, highway projects are on slow lane in the other two states, the report further stated quoting the sources.

Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir are all performing well, and Odisha also isn't not too far behind.

CREDAI to donate 2.57 crore for CM relief fund

Chennai: As part of their corporate social responsibility, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI)’s Chennai chapter, has collected a sum of Rs 2.57 crore to be handed over to the Chief Minster’s relief fund.

Speaking while inaugurating “Fairpro 2012” an expo showcasing completed residential projects by CREDAI members, on Monday, its President T Chitty Babu, said, “We have planned to donate Rs 2.57 crore collected from our 257 members across the state and the same will be handed over to the Tamil Nadu government to be used for relief and rehabilitation of Cuddalore, which was ravaged by the recent cyclone Thane.”
 
“The money will be handed over to the relief fund by this month end,” he added.
 
While explaining CRADAI Chennai’s effort to help people along the cyclone hit belt between Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Murugesan, another CREDAI member said, “We wanted to help people within our reach. A five-member CREDAI team met the then Cuddalore collector who asked us to either adopt a few villages or plant trees along the road stretching from Pondicherry border to Chidambaram. Since, adopting villages needed huge resources; we have taken a plunge to plant saplings along the 67 km stretch.”
 
CREDAI would oversee the planting of saplings on both sides of the road up to Chidambaram. “We intend to complete this task within two months. CREDAI has taken the responsibility of maintaining these saplings for two years and after that the same will be handed over to NHAI,” Murugesan said, adding, in order to educate the formers along the cyclone prone villages along the coastal region of Cuddalore and Chidambaram, CREDAI members along with the Exnora of Cuddalore and Chidambaram, met the village heads and advised them to plant hybrid varieties of cash crops like cashew which provide yield within one year.”