Days after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) dragged the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to the apex court alleging delays in granting of forest clearance, the ministry has granted forest clearance to the 555-km Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway widening project that had first sparked the conflict.

While the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has recommended the project, it is not amused with NHAI's rather public finger pointing at MoEF. Minutes of the FAC meeting held on January 21-22 observe how MoEF has been "blamed unpleasantly" for delays.

Minister says delay is due to adverse weather and hurdles in land acquisition

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways C.P. Joshi on Tuesday revealed that only 100 km of the 2,400-km Trans-Arunachal Highway announced under the Prime Minister’s package for Arunachal Pradesh had been completed so far. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the project in Itanagar on January 31, 2008. The Trans-Arunachal (declared as National Highway 229) highway from Tawang to Mahadevpur will pass through Bomdila, Nechipur, Seppa, Sagalee, Ziro, Daporijo, Along, Pasighat, Roing, Teju, Mahadevpur, Namchik, Changlang, Khonsa and Kanubari. The project components include construction of two-lane feeder roads connecting all district headquarters.

New Delhi: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) expects to build at least 2,800-2,900 km highways under the NH Development Programme during 2012-13, which will be the highest ever completion in the authority’s history. The maximum NH construction record so far has been 2,693 km in 2009-10, sources said.

According to officials, the highways minister C P Joshi has asked the authority to achieve its internal target of 3,000 km by March-end and to expedite construction on small pending stretches so that large corridors can be brought under “completion” category. “Issues relating to every under construction stretch was discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday at the highest level where top NHAI and highway ministry officials were present,” said a source.

The woes of investors in highway projects don't seem to end. The new guidelines issued by the environment ministry, allowing work on non-forest land while clearance for projects involving diversion of forest land is pending, are cumbersome and would not facilitate investments, developers feel.

According to official sources, the developers have written to the environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan, roads minister CP Joshi, NHAI Chairman RP Singh and the department of economic affairs in finance ministry, stating that the condition that in order to begin work in non-forest land, the user agency must explicitly provide for a “technically feasible alternative alignment” for segments that fall in forest land is too difficult to be complied with.

The 266-km project is estimated to cost Rs. 20,000 crore

Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and the Centre have agreed to construct an access-controlled Delhi-Ludhiana Expressway at an estimated cost of Rs. 20,000 crore.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s proposal to revise the Delhi-Chandigarh Expressway to one connecting the national Capital with Ludhiana was ratified by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Delhi Public Works Department Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan at a meeting chaired by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways C.P. Joshi.

Delhi-Ludhiana expressway talks begin, states express in-principle approval

With the Prime Minister’s Office stepping in to resolve the row between the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) over forest clearances to highway projects, the former has communicated the ball is now in the latter’s court. Senior officials in the NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said the highway authority maintained its stand and had communicated this to the MoEF and the PMO.

Stepping in to resolve the row between the National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) over forest clearance to linear projects, the Prime Minister’s Office Tuesday worked out a formula to end the embarrassing stand-off between two arms of the central government.

A meeting called by the PMO decided the MoEF will submit a clarification delinking environmental clearance from forest clearance for linear projects following which NHAI will withdraw its court case against the ministry, highly placed sources said.

Things may have come to a boil between the National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Environment and Forests over green clearances to road projects last week with the former going to court in protest, but they have been simmering for long enough. The NHAI has for long been demanding exemption from the Forest Rights Act for its road projects and now derives strength from the recent recommendations made by a Committee of Secretaries on the issue.

Chaired by the Law Secretary, this committee — specifically examining the NHAI’s demand vis-a-vis the ministry’s contentions — gave an opinion in favour of the NHAI. The committee has opined that the FRA may not be insisted upon as far as road projects are concerned.

Long-term lenders like IIFCL and IDBI Bank are unlikely to fund road projects where land acquisition is incomplete, a move that could scuttle plans to award projects of 8,000 km this fiscal year. Lenders and builders have approached the finance ministry, road ministry and NHAI, insisting that road contracts should not be awarded without all clearances in place.

“We are not taking up new projects unless 100% land acquisition is done. We are taking up the issue with NHAI,” IIFCL chairman SK Goel told FE. “We feel other lenders will follow suit,” he added.

‘Need To Regulate Use Of Multi-Tone Horns That Pose A Health Hazard’

Mumbai: Sirens and multitone horns in vehicles that flout the prescribed decibel levels are a serious hazard to citizens, said the national green tribunal in its judgment. The tribunal has directed the police not to allow private vehicles to use such devices in residential areas, silence zones and in the vicinity of educational institutes, hospitals and sensitive areas. It also wants the police not to allow such vehicles during nighttime, except for emergencies.