National Highways Authority of India spent Rs 7,834.63cr on acquiring pvt land in last 3 yrs

NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India has spent Rs 7,834.63 crore on acquisition of private land in the last three years for development of highways in the country, the government said on Monday.

"Compensation for acquisition of land for development of National Highways is determined as per NH Act, 1956, and expenditure incurred during the last three years (on acquisition of private land) is Rs 7,834.63 crore in this regard," Minister of State for Road Transport Jitin Prasada said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

According to the data provided by the minister, NHAI had acquired 17,941.17 hectares of private land in last three years.

It also showed that private land acquisition by the authority had picked up significantly during the last fiscal, when it acquired 8,577 hectares (ha) vis-a-vis 6,244 ha in 2009-10 and 3,120.17 ha in 2008-09.

Moreover, NHAI acquired maximum land in Uttar Pradesh in last three years, at 2,483.40 ha, followed by Tamil Nadu at 2,435.08 ha.

However, it did not buy any private land in Goa and Himachal Pradesh between 2008-09 and 2010-11 for construction of highways, the data showed.

Meanwhile, the acquisition of private land was slow in Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and West Bengal during this period as NHAI managed to acquire only 40 ha, 71 ha and 111.96 ha, respectively, in these states.

The MoS for Road Transport did not give any reasons for no or slow acquisition of private land in these states.

Replying to a separate question, the minister said that NHAI has awarded 7 road construction projects so far in the current fiscal, while 53 more National Highway projects are proposed to be awarded this year, amounting to 7,080.19 kms.

This includes much delayed Eastern Peripheral Expressway, which is to be built along the Delhi border to decongest the national capital from traffic entering and bypassing the city through National highways, Prasada said.

The 135 km-long Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal expressway would also pass through Sonepat, Faridabad in Haryana and Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) in Uttar Pradesh.