The Road Transport and Highways Ministry will set up two separate divisions to deal with land acquisition problems, a move that will help the government acquire over 60,000 hectares needed for the national highways development project (NHDP).
"We will soon set up two divisions exclusively to deal with land acquisition issues as the Cabinet has approved creation of two posts of joint secretaries in the ministry," Road Transport and Highways Secretary Brahm Dutt told PTI.
"Land acquisition is very important for highways (development)...The ministry was handicapped in the absence of full-time joint secretaries. Now that the Cabinet has approved it we expect speedy acquisition of land," he said.
The government, which requires 63,211.721 hectares for expansion of the highways network under NHDP has also set up special land acquisition units besides seeking states' support.
Of 63,211.721 hectares, the government requires 9,981 hectares in Tamil Nadu, 5,862 hectares in Madhya Pradesh, 5,630 hectares in Uttar Pradesh, 5,148 hectares in Haryana, 4,774 hectares in Bihar and 4,124 hectares in Rajasthan.
Of the two divisions proposed in the ministry, one will exclusively deal with land acquisition, while the other will pursue matters like forest and environment clearances, land matters pertaining to defence and railways and shifting of utilities, the Transport Secretary said.
Besides, one of the focus area will be coordination with state governments. "Inter-ministerial coordination and coordination with states is an important issue. We will constantly monitor, review and take all steps," he said.
The government, this month admitted that as many as 140 road projects out of the 211 projects into the list of delayed projects due to factors including problems in land acquisition.
"Out of 211 projects under implementation with NHAI, 140 projects are running behind schedule," a latest government document said.
Earlier, ministry officials too had admitted that nearly 30 per cent of the NHDP projects were stuck in disputes concerning land, forest clearance or other matters.
At present, NHDP is being implemented in 4 phases I, II ,III & V. The present projects under Phase I, II & III envisage improving more than 32,754 km of arterial routes of the NH network to international standards.
Transport Minister Kamal Nath, soon after taking charge had unveiled ambitious plans of his ministry of constructing about 35,000 km of roads in the next five years with construction of 20 km of road every day.
The ministry has also announced spending over Rs 2 lakh crore in the next two years on roads.
