'Only 13% road projects awarded during FY10'

“Against the target of awarding projects for a total length of about 9,800 km under various phases of National Highways Development Project (NHDP) during 2009-10, projects have been awarded for a total length of about 1,285 km up to November 2009," according to the Economic Survey.

Attributing delays to reasons like introduction of new methods for approval of PPP (public-private-partnership) projects, it said the factors that affected the bankability of projects included "lenders' perception of high risk" and "lingering doubts of lenders on interpretation of many provisions of the new MCAs (model concession agreement)".

In addition, the bottlenecks identified for slow progress in road projects included delays in land acquisition and environment clearances.

According to ministry of road transport and highways, 131 projects have been delayed mainly due to problems associated with land acquisition, shifting of utilities, obtaining environment and forest clearance, approval for road over bridges, poor performance of some contractors, law and order, etc.

In 2009-10, against the target of developing about 3,165 km of highways under NHDP, the achievement up to
November 2009 has been that of about 1,490 km only.