NE states have 74 delayed National Highway projects; 17 in Assam

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: There are 576 delayed National Highway (NH) projects across the country since 2014, of which 74 are in the NE states, including 17 in Assam.

This was revealed in a report of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH).

The people of Upper Assam are the worst sufferers of the delayed NH projects, with the upgrading work of NHs to four lanes on various stretches still incomplete. According to MoRTH, Manipur has the highest of 21 NH delayed projects among the NE states, started in 2014.

The details of under-construction NH projects in NE states, other than Manipur, that started on April 1, 2014, that spilled beyond their original completion schedule without attaining any of the various stages of project completion and excluding projects under consideration for termination/foreclosure are as follows--with 17 in Assam, 8 in Sikkim, 7 in Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, 6 in Nagaland and 4 in Tripura and Meghalaya.

According to the ministry, the primary reasons for delay in NH projects are issues/bottlenecks relating to land acquisition, statutory clearances/permissions, utility shifting, encroachment removal, law & order, financial crunch of the concessionaire/contractor, poor performance of the contractor/concessionaire, and force majeure events like the Covid-19 pandemic, heavy rainfall, floods, cyclones, landslides/avalanches, etc.

The ministry also stated that cost escalation is not incurred in all delayed projects. If delay is not attributable to the contractor, price escalation is paid as per contract conditions, which may or may not result in additional cost, depending upon the final value of price escalation determined on actual completion of the project and final settlement of bills. If the delay is attributable to the Contractor, damages are imposed, and there is no additional cost due to the delay.

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