Critical of huge gaps in the development of infrastructure, the Economic Survey on Thursday asked government to address the issues of disputes in land acquisition, rehabilitation, and problems of law and order in states, systematically.
"There are still significant gaps that need to be bridged . . . The implementation of NHDP has been faced with a number of constraints that include delays in land acquisition and removal of structures, ... law and order problems in states and poor performance of some contractors," the pre-Budget Survey tabled in Parliament cautioned.
Even though the national highways comprise only 2 per cent of the total length of roads, they account for about 40 per cent of the total traffic and the National Highways Development Project, implemented by National Highways Authority of India, remains mired in problems.
It says only 11,037 km of NH out of 33,639 km under NHDP could be four-laned as on March 31, 2009, while the award of civil works is yet to be given for 16,412 km.
"Phase I & II of NHDP envisaged 4/6 laning of about 14,330 kilometeres of national highways, at a total estimated cost of Rs 65,000 crore (Rs 650 billion). These two phases consist of the Golden Quadrilateral. . .Nearly 98 per cent works on GQ have been completed by March 2009 and the NS and EW corridors are expected to be completed by December 2009," the survey said.
