Government extends NATRIP project timeline by 3 years

NEW DELHI: The government today extended the timeline for completing the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infra Project (NATRIP) by three years.

"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister, has approved extension of the date of completion of the present timeline by three years that is from 31st December 2014 to 31st December 2017 of the NATRIP)," an official statement said.

The extension of timeline will help the project to be completed as per the objectives and will ensure that state of the art automotive testing, homologation and R&D facilities are made available in India, it said.

NATRIP which plans creation of facilities at seven locations such as Ahmednagar, Silchar, Raebareli, Pune, Manesar, Chennai and Indore had faced hurdles at various stages of implementation on account of delays in acquisition of land, clearances and shifting of utilities besides, contractual complications and foreign exchange variation.

The statement said the project envisages setting up of full-fledged testing and homologation centres within the northern hub of automotive industry at Manesar in Haryana and southern hub of automotive industry at a location near Chennai in Tamil Nadu.

The statement said besides this, the project aims at upgradation of existing testing and homologation facilities at Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune and at Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar.

Besides a world-class proving grounds or testing tracks on around 4,000 acres of land, including summer and winter pads are planned, the locations of which would be decided with technical assistance from a reputed global consultant to be appointed on the basis of global tendering process.

The statement said it also envisages setting up of "National Center for Testing of Tractors and Off-Road Vehicles together with national facility for accident data analysis and specialized driving training in northern part of the country at Rae Bareilly in the State of Uttar Pradesh" and National Specialized Hill Area Driving Training Center as also Regional In-Use vehicle management Center at Dholchora (Silchar) in Assam.