Amid delays in achieving the target for building 20 km of road a day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a high-level meeting on May 30 to review the performance of the highways sector.
“The Prime Minister is going to review the progress made in the road sector on May 30. He will assess the progress made in the first four years of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), based on which future strategy will be chalked out for the terminal year (2011-12),” a Road Transport and Highways Ministry official told PTI.
The Transport Ministry had unveiled ambitious plans for building 20 km of roads a day. However, the NHAI could only build 12 km of road per day in 2010. It has been unable to meet the target amid delays in the award of contracts and problems over land acquisition and environment clearances, among others.
The official said the ministry, which has plans to award contracts involving the construction of 10,000 km of roads in the current financial year for ensuring a minimum achievement of 7,300 km, will apprise the Prime Minister of the steps taken to fast-track road building.
Road Transport and Highways Minister C.P. Joshi will brief the Prime Minister about various initiatives undertaken by the ministry, including setting monthly award targets to expedite road projects, he said.
Earlier this month, the Road Ministry had announced that it has fixed monthly targets for road building and will tender all projects through the e-tendering process, beginning August, to introduce greater transparency in the sector.
It has fixed month-wise targets for the award of contracts worth about Rs 57,000 crore, involving the construction of about 8,000 km of roads, by January, 2012.
