Contracts for NHDP behind schedule, says govt

The government today said contracts for 867 km of highways under the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) had been awarded so far this fiscal, which was much below the target.

"So far in this fiscal, 24 contracts pertaining to NHDP have been awarded," Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways K H Muniyappa said in a written reply to a question.

The award of contracts had failed to keep pace with the targets. Under the second and third phase of NHDP, the target of contracts for 3,361 km was set for this fiscal, he added.

Muniyappa said so far the New Model Concession Agreement for the public private partnership projects had not been issued to bidders.

He admitted some of the highway projects had been running behind schedule due to problems with land acquisition and bad performance.