Gadkari: 489 National Highway Projects Delayed by Land and Environmental Hurdles.

A total of 489 national highway projects, originally scheduled to be completed by March 2025, are facing significant delays due to ongoing issues with land acquisition, forest and wildlife clearances, and railway approvals.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the government is actively working with state governments and other stakeholders to resolve these hurdles and ensure the projects are completed.

Cost Overruns and Solutions

The minister acknowledged that these delays have resulted in cost overruns. He attributed the increased expenses to:

• Price escalation of construction materials.


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  The impact of the Goods & Services Tax (GST).

  
  


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  Public demands for additional infrastructure like underpasses and overpasses.

  
  


• Necessary design changes for bridges to meet specific railway standards.

Gadkari also stated that for projects that are "inordinately delayed" with no clear path forward, the ministry is terminating the original contracts. These projects are then being re-tendered, sometimes with modified designs, to ensure they can eventually be completed.

In a separate response, the minister clarified that all national highways are built to the standards of the Indian Road Congress (IRC). He specified that the maximum design speed for national highways is 100 km/h, while for expressways in plain terrain, it is 120 km/h