“They suffer from inherent financial weaknesses”

Taking a tough stand, the Union government on Thursday said GMR Infra and GVK Power and Infrastructure Limited, which had served notices on the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) stating that they were withdrawing from two major highway projects owing to delays in environment clearances, suffered from inherent financial weaknesses.

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.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) may black list GMR Infrastructure from bidding for highways projects on the grounds that the company allegedly terminated a contract unilaterally wit

Stung by the “abrupt and unilateral” walkout of the GMR Group from the 555-km-long Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway project alleging delays in approvals, the ministry of road transport

The Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment disputed the claims of the National Highway Authority of India that has moved the Supreme Court for fast-track clearance of delayed highway projects.

Elaborating upon the Forest Advisory Committee meeting held in December 2012, Ritwick Dutta, environmental lawyer and member of LIFE said, “From the 29 projects put up for clearance, the FAC cleared as many as 17. Three of these proposals were from the NHAI and while two were cleared, one was sent back on the ground that they wanted more information.”

The decision by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to move the Supreme Court seeking exemption for delinking environment and forest approvals for road projects had the approval of the Prime Ministers Office (PMO), it has emerged.

Government sources in the know say that the PMO’s approval came in a meeting held on October 31, 2012. The meeting was chaired by Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Pulok Chatterji and attended by representatives from NHAI, and the ministries of road transport, environment and law.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of its guidelines mandating forest clearance prior to environmental clearance, saying the related procedures have delayed and stalled 22 important projects worth over R20,000 crore.

The highway authority has also sought a direction to the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to modify its office memoranda (OM) of March and April 2011 so as to delink the two clearances in respect of widening of national highways.