Ministry seeks 61% more for highways upgrade

Prime Minister's road project stalls on low fund utilisation

Notwithstanding the fact that more than Rs 2,000 crore of the total grant for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana ( PMGSY) is lying unspent, the rural development ministry is seeking a 61 per cent hike in allocations for the current year. Almost 50 per cent of the roads cleared under the scheme are still incomplete.

"The extra resources are needed to build capacity so that completion of the project becomes a possibility. Of course, utilisation of grants given to the states is below par. This, rather than lack of resources, is responsible for the delays," said officials in the rural development ministry.

The National Advisory Council President, Sonia Gandhi, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking for more funds to be provided for the project, either by increasing budgetary allocation or leveraging the diesel cess to raise funds.

The rural development ministry has sought Rs 1,500 crore, in addition to the Budget allocation of Rs 2,148 crore, exclusively for upgradation of roads.

It has also estimated a shortfall of Rs 93,000 crore for completion of the project.

The deadline for completion of the project has already been extended by five years to 2011-12. The project was initially scheduled to be completed by 2007.

Of the road works for the 1,02,000 km cleared by the government, work on 57,590 km has been completed. Even the number of habitations connected since 2001, at 15,875, is half the targeted 35,576 habitations.

Of the 28 states, 10 have not completed even 50 per cent of the work. The completion rate is above 70 per cent in only five of the states, with Andhra Pradesh leading the pack, completing 95 per cent of the projects cleared since 2000-01.

The situation is particularly disturbing in states like Bihar, which has completed only 20.5 per cent of the allocated work and Assam, which has completed 27 per cent of the cleared work. Jammu and Kashmir was successful in completing only 5 per cent of the target of 635 km.

Though five months of the current fiscal have passed, there have been no allocations for the projects proposed for the year. Nineteen of the 28 states have not even come up with project proposals. The reason cited has been the inability of the states to spend the funds released to them in previous years.

The problem of finance for the PMGSY has generated some concern. The Planning Commission, in its mid-term review, has said that the rural road programme has not gained momentum due to its complete dependence on budgetary support.

Other sources of finance like leveraging the central road fund money for borrowings, should be explored also, the mid term-review has said.