NHAI scraps Rs 4,929 crore Road Projects

NHAI has issued termination orders for four road projects in Tamil Nadu citing delay in land acquisition by the state government. The total cost of the projects is 4,929 crore.

CHENNAI: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued termination orders for four road projects in Tamil Nadu citing delay in land acquisition by the state government. The total cost of the projects is 4,929 crore.

NHAI scraps Rs 4,929 crore road projects in Tamil Nadu

Chairman of NHAI, Nagendra Nath Sinha has issued termination orders for four-laning of Villupuram-Puducherry section (998.7 crore), Puducherry-Poondiyankuppam section (1,294.5 crore) and Poondiankuppam-Sattanathapuram section of NH 45 A (2,153.4 crore), according to reliable sources in NHAI.

Four-laning of the 180 km stretch of Villupuram-Nagapattinam NH 45 A was taken up in four phases under the Centre’s Bharatmala Pariyojana. The road project was taken up to reduce travelling time to major towns like Puducherry, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Sirkazhi and Karaikkal and promote industrial growth and economic activities along the stretch.

“We received the termination orders from the headquarters two week ago,” said an official in the Chennai regional office of NHAI. The orders say that the termination of the projects is effective from May 2019. The authority has taken the decision to avoid paying huge amount as compensation to the contractors for not handing over the land on time.

NHAI awarded the projects to the contractors in March 2018 under Hybrid Annuity Mode. As per the provision, the required land to execute the road project should have been handed over to the contractors within six months from entering into the agreement. “But even after a year, we are not in a position to hand over the land,” said the official.

Similarly, NHAI chairman has also issued termination order for two-laning of Meensurutti-Chidambaram section of NH 227, which was estimated to cost 482 crore.

However, the official said the state government had assured them to acquire the required land within two months time. “We will float a fresh tender for the project only after receiving the required land. We have also disbursed the compensation to the owners of the land parcels that have already been acquired for the project,” said the official.