Gadkari stresses for faster construction and award of projects at NHAI review meet

Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday spoke about fast-tracking highway projects going past hurdles like land acquisition and green clearance.

Gadkari, who carried out a review meeting of projects implemented by the National Highways Authority of India, said a record 16,271 km of national highways have been awarded and 8,231 km constructed in 2016-17, but there should a faster award and construction of other road projects.

DNA had earlier reported about Gadkari's decision to advance the deadline of 314 big ticket national highway projects to December 2018 from the earlier 2019 deadline. On Tuesday's review meeting, the minister stressed Mumbai-Vadodara, Bengaluru-Chennai and Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressways should be sanctioned by June 2017.

He also said that tenders for 33 wayside amenities would be floated by June 2017 and that electronic toll collection systems will be installed on all lanes on all toll plazas by March 31, 2018.

An official statement also mentioned that the minister also announced that an award will be constituted for the best performing project director and regional officer of NHAI.

Over problems of land acquisition as a hurdle in timely implementation of road projects, Gadkari asked for state governments' cooperation and sought faster resolution of problems such as forest clearances, appointment of independent engineers and change of scope, among others.