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.
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