Highway projects: Why Gadkari's ministry will walk a tightrope this year

The Union transport ministry will be walking a tightrope this year as the Nitin Gadkari-led ministry intends to focus on monitoring and implementation of highway projects, ahead of general elections next year. Experts, however, feel the implementation should not be at the cost of awarding new contracts, since that would affect the project pipeline in the coming years.

According to a senior official in the ministry, the focus during 2018 would be more on the implementation of the existing projects rather than awarding new contracts.

Project execution in the past has been hampered by hurdles in land acquisition and subsequent