No takers for highway programme's rural phase

While the government is going ahead with the six-laning of highways, it is still not clear how to implement the work of two-laning the 20,000-km national highway in remote areas.

The two-laning comes under phase IV of the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) and the government is yet to decide whether to give the work to the state governments or the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

While ministry officials say the NHAI could be the nodal agency for this phase, the authority does not agree. A top NHAI official said the project did not come under their jurisdiction as the upgrade of these roads was the responsibility of the state governments.

Due to this confusion, the ministry has failed to implement this phase of the NHDP, even though it has gone ahead with the ix-laning of highways under phase V of the programme.

Sources say the confusion over a significant component of the NHDP shows the government's lack of seriousness about phase IV.

The ministry had, in February this year, claimed to have identified around 5,000 km of stretches for upgrade under this phase and divided the 20,000 km stretches into four components.

However, it is yet to get this phase approved by the Cabinet. Senior ministry officials had told Business Standard earlier that a Cabinet note was being prepared. However, no progress has been made yet.

Sources say the NHDP is aimed at upgrading national highways across the country and phase IV was included as it covered stretches in remote areas. Observers say that the attitude of the government shows the priority it gives to roads in remote areas.