NEW DELHI: With a significant number of national highway projects lagging behind schedule due to a lack of inter-ministerial coordination, the Ministry of road transport and Highways (MoRTH) is setting up an ‘institutional mechanism’ for better synergy and regular monitoring to expedite their completion.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been entrusted with the responsibility to collate information and coordinate with relevant stakeholders, said officials. “Inter-ministerial coordination issues are major impediments which cause several road projects to get stuck or delayed. To ensure expeditious and effective resolution of such inter-ministerial, the MoRTH is in the process of setting up of an institutional mechanism for monthly thereof pertaining to projects handled by three wings viz Ring Wing (of MoRTH), NHAI, and National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL),” read a note of the NHAI.
In December 2022, the ministry, in response to a question pertaining to the delayed national highway projects, stated that 719 projects are hanging fire due to ‘various’ reasons. It further informed that 438 projects were expected to be completed in the current financial year.
Union Minister of road transport and Highways Nitin Gadakri in February stated in Lok Sabha that 1,486 national highways (NHs) projects with a cumulative length of about 38,000 km are at various stages of completion and being implemented by different agencies of his ministry.
According to the officials, regional officers (ROs) of the Authority will identify and flag the pending issues leading to the delay. The officers will also ensure regular updates or upload the concerns and their status on the project management group (PMG) portal by the 15th of every month so that the development could be monitored by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Based on the details of the issue impeding the project's progress, the agenda will be prepared and prepared before the concerned Committee for review. The PMG is an arrangement under the Department of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), for the expedited resolution of issues and regulatory bottlenecks in projects with investments upward of `500 crore. It was set up as a special cell in the Cabinet Secretariat in 2013 and was subsequently brought under the administrative control of the PMO in 2015.
After a review of the issues, a final report will be sent to the coordination division for further monthly monitoring to the additional secretary (highways) of the MoRTH so that the matter could be taken up with the respective ministries, officials added.
DPIIT arrangement to ovesee projects
The PMG is an arrangement under the Department of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), for the expedited resolution of issues and regulatory bottlenecks in projects with investments upward `500 crore. It was set up as a special cell in the Cabinet Secretariat in 2013 and was subsequently brought under the administrative control of the PMO in 2015.