More than 50% of ongoing national highway projects behind schedule: Gadkari tells Parliament

More than half of the national highway projects currently under construction in the country have overshot their original completion timelines, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said that 629 out of 1,191 ongoing projects have “spilled beyond their original completion schedule.”

The 1,191 projects include those under construction that have not reached any stage of completion and exclude projects under consideration for termination or foreclosure.

Maharashtra has the highest number of ongoing projects at 118, followed by Uttar Pradesh (87), Karnataka (77), Uttarakhand (74), Andhra Pradesh (69) and Bihar (67).

Among delayed projects, Maharashtra tops the list with 60 projects spilling beyond their original completion schedule, followed by Karnataka (47), Uttar Pradesh (44), Andhra Pradesh (42), Bihar (35) and Madhya Pradesh (34).

Kerala has 15 delayed projects out of its 16 ongoing highway projects, while Nagaland has 16 delayed projects out of 19 and Sikkim nine out of 11.

Responding to a separate question, Gadkari said the government has awarded 10,389 km of National High-Speed Corridors and Greenfield Expressways across the country, of which 4,809 km has been completed while 5,580 km is under implementation.

Rajasthan accounts for the largest awarded length at 1,340 km, followed by Punjab (923 km), Andhra Pradesh (893 km), Uttar Pradesh (884 km) and Haryana (839 km).

The minister said the government regularly reviews the progress of all ongoing national highway works at the project, state and central levels with the involvement of state governments and other stakeholders.

The government has streamlined land acquisition through the Bhoomirashi portal and GIS-based land acquisition plans, revamped the Parivesh portal for faster environmental and forest clearances, enabled online approval of railway bridge drawings, and strengthened coordination with states to resolve project bottlenecks, he said.

In a separate reply, the minister said that from 2023-24 to 2025-26, 103 contractor/concessionaire were blacklisted/penalised for poor quality work in the execution of national highway construction work execution.

Gadkari also said 6,358 accident-prone "black corridors" have been identified on national highways using AI-based tools based on Electronic Detailed Accident Report (e-DAR) data for 2023-2025.

He said the government carries out regular road safety audits and undertakes both short-term measures such as road markings, signages, crash barriers and closure of unauthorised median openings, and long-term measures including junction improvements, carriageway widening and construction of underpasses and overpasses.