20 Stalled highway projects get court go-ahead

Stalled highway projects worth Rs 27,000 crore could get a fresh lease of life, with the Supreme Court ruling that requisite environmental approvals may be delinked from forest clearances. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had been unable to proceed on 20 projects spanning 2,700 kilometres of new highways because of delays in such green clearances.

“Some of these projects have been stuck for over two years, but the Supreme Court decision means work can begin almost immediately,” said a top NHAI official, adding that the environment and forests ministry will issue formal orders eventually.

The NHAI and the road ministry have been struggling to find takers for highway development projects of 8,800 km planned for this year thanks to delays in approvals. While less than 10% of that target has been met in the first 11 months of 2012-13, leading infrastructure players like GVK and GMR have walked out of highway projects worth around Rs11,000 crore, citing delays in obtaining environment clearances.

The National Highways Authority of India had moved Supreme Court on January 5 this year to delink environment clearances from forest clearances because of the impact it was having on getting projects off the ground as well as awarding new projects. NHAI had also filed applications before the apex court to get exemption from no-objection certificates (NOC) under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, essential to use forest land for non-forestry activities.

The face-off between NHAI and environment ministry also prompted the PMO to step in. Following highpowered meetings, the MOEF was asked to file clarifications and NHAI to withdraw its petitions. In February, the MOEF issued a circular saying that linear stretches have been exempt from the FRA conditions. Under pressure from all quarters, the environment ministry also disclosed the status clearances for infrastructure projects and had blamed the NHAI for submitting incomplete applications.