Charges of delaying NH projects "baseless": MP govt

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government has denied allegations of delaying the completion of National Highway projects and dubbed it as "far from facts and baseless."

An official release said today that as per factual position received from Public Works Department, the process of acquiring land for construction of National Highways falls under the purview of National Highways Act. This process can be undertaken only by the Union Road Transport and National Highways Ministry and it also applies to land acquisition for BOT projects being undertaken by National Highways Authority of India. Assistance required in this regard is given promptly by the state government. Concerned projects are not getting delayed due to any shortcoming on the part of the state government, it said. The release clarified that the Union Government has accorded in-principle sanction of Rs 422.50 crore and not of Rs 479 crore. Under non-plan (PR) in-principle sanction of Rs 40 crore has been accorded under annual maintenance head. The state government has sent Rs 381 crore estimates to the Union Government for sanction. Administrative sanction for any of these estimates has not yet been accorded by the Union Government. It has been clarified that in-principle sanction is given for certain identified works by the Union Government. After receipt of sanction, estimates of these projects are sent to the Union Government for administrative sanction. Tenders are invited after receipt of administrative sanction. If minimum rates quoted in the tender are five per cent higher than tender rates then the estimate is sent again to the Central Government for revised administrative sanction. In many cases, tender validity period expires till revised administrative sanction is received. On inviting tender again, not only higher rates are quoted but the work gets delayed further. It is clear from these facts that the system for sanctioning such estimates at the Centre is erroneous. PTI