Road Transport ministry seeks nod to clear 'small' projects costing up to Rs 500 crore

NEW DELHI: The road transport and highways ministry has sought permission to clear projects costing up to Rs 500 crore in an attempt to expedite investments in the fourth phase of the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP).

At present, all road projects are cleared by inter-ministerial committees, which the ministry says causes delay.

"Many of the projects will be small ones worth around 400 crore on average. It would make the process easier if these small projects were left to us to take care of," said a senior roads ministry official. The road transport and highways ministry will soon move a cabinet note seeking these powers. The NHDP Phase IV involves improving the condition of 20,000 km of national highways by strengthening and widening them into 2-lanes.

Over 3,900-km stretch costing 29,700 crore is already under implementation while about 16,000 km is yet to be awarded.

In a recent decision, the Supreme Court allowed the de-linking of environment clearances from forest clearances, which will also help stalled road projects worth 27,000 crore get back on track. The roads ministry is also in talks with the environment ministry to ease the clearance process for digging up soil or aggregates, needed to build roads.

The aggregates, often extracted from the roadside, are about 60-70% of the materials needed to build roads. Soil used for construction of roads has been classified as minor minerals and their extraction requires environmental clearance.

"We have suggested that these clearances be left at the regional level," said the roads ministry official adding that MOEF has indicated it will be resolved soon.