Reliance Infra’s Delhi-Agra road upgrade still in cul-de-sac

Reliance Infrastructure’s Rs1,928 crore national highway upgrade project between Delhi and Agra has been stuck over clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for more than a year now - a development that is likely to lead to cost escalation in the project.

The 180 km project spanning Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is part of the Phase Five of the National Highways Development Programme, which envisages expansion to six-laning of 6,500 km of highway network.

The phase assumes significance as upgrade of the entire golden quadrilateral (5,846 km) to six-lane standards is a part of it.

Reliance Infrastructure bagged the project from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in May 2010. The company, however, has still not been able to start construction on the road.

The project is being developed on a build, operate and transfer (BoT), toll basis. Analysts, on conditions of anonymity, peg the cost escalation at round 10% as of now.

NHAI, meanwhile, has said that the issue will be resolved in the next one month. Explaining the matter, a NHAI official said, “The clearance involves an area where a toll plaza will be coming up. The clearances happen in two stages. In the first stage, the terms of references are approved by the Union environment ministry. In this project, the MoEF has approved the terms of references four months back.”

In the second stage, public hearing takes place. It is here that the matter is stuck for Reliance Infrastructure. “The public hearing has been completed in Uttar Pradesh. In Haryana, the hearing is scheduled for October 13. Once that is done, the report will be submitted to the MoEF,” said the official.

The company has a portfolio of 11 road projects spanning 970 km, worth Rs12,000 crore. Of these, at least seven will become operational by the end of the current financial year.