The cost overruns were because of rise in prices of construction materials, delay in land acquisition, utility shifting and obtaining clearances from forest/environment, he said during Question Hour. Poor performance of some contractors and law and order problems in some states were some other reasons.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi's (TRS) 48-hour bandh has incurred a huge loss to the coastal areas of East Godavari, West Godvari and Viskhapatnam.
Rajiv Kumar will continue as vice-chairman of the body, along with other full-time members V K Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and V K Paul.
Normal life was thrown out of gear at several places across Andhra Pradesh on Monday due to the shutdown called by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi to protest the arrest of their leader K Chandrasekhar Rao, who continued his fast in prison.
"We have sought assistance from World Bank for 37,000 km of roads as we plan to take up work on these projects soon," Road Minister C P Joshi told reporters after a meeting with a World Bank delegation, headed by its South Asia Region Vice President Isabel Guerrero.
GAGAN or the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation to be launched by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel would not only help the civil aviation sector but also help in marine navigation, search and rescue operations, rail and road transport, survey and mapping as well as precision farming.
About railways sector, the Survey said that it is facing stiff competition from other modes of transportation and the government is initiating various transformative measures to keep railways on track.
Only two Indo-Canadian Members of Parliament -- Conservative Deepak Obhrai and Liberal Yasmeen Ratansi, and one senator, Conservative Vim Kochhar, showed up to greet Kamal Nath, Indian minister for roads, transportation and highways, at a reception organised by the Canada-India Parliamentary Association in Ottawa, on March 24.
India expects a big investment of $5 billion (about Rs 22,800 crore) from Canada in the country's road development programme over the next three to four years, road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath has said.
The minister, however, refused to divulge the names of the companies saying that there were many of them and he could not name them just then.
The project, to be executed by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, would involve double-laning of single-lane highways in eight states in the next three years.
A report by a senior official in the Planning Commission has said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is heading towards bankruptcy, as its debt is set to increase five times in the next three years.
Transportation via inland waterways is cost-effective and more environment-friendly than rail or road transportation
Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday he was forewarned that the Plan panel would not allow him to achieve a 20 km-a-day road-building target.
He dropped those perceived to be non-performers or whose integrity came into question, and also where it was felt they needed to learn a lesson or two in humility.
The Centre on Monday earmarked a separate Rs 2,217 crore for 42 urban centres to tackle air pollution and announced the much-awaited voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and polluting vehicles, even as it shrunk the budgetary allocation for the environment ministry from the last fiscal by nearly eight percent. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech for 2021-22, announced a total of Rs 2869.93 crore for the ministry, Rs 230 crore less than the last fiscal. Officials said the outlay has been lesser this time as the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Markaz Nizamuddin, which is the international headquarters of Tabilghi Jamaat for close to 100 years, offered its premises for setting up a quarantine facility.
According to official reports, eight bodies had been recovered so far and rescue operations were on.
Toll collection is a key instrument for the government to attract private investment.
Made from Jatropha crop, the fuel has been developed by the CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun.
However, finance minister Pranab Mukerjee did not commit himself to this proposal of floating infrastructure bonds, as this requires detailed examination and Parliamentary nod.
At present, Road Secretary R S Gujral is handling the additional charge of NHAI chairman, the position which has been vacated by Brijeshwar Singh, for three months.
Bandhs and protests over the Centre's move to create a separate Telangana state continued for the second day on Saturday, affecting normal life in coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions of Andhra Pradesh.
Kamal Nath, minister of road transport and highways, pitched for American investment and advanced technology transfer in infrastructure development in India's road sector in New York last week.
The highway authority's annual toll earning for 2009-10 was in the range of Rs 1,700 crore (Rs 17 billion) from 141 public-funded toll plazas in the country.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath has been summoned by a US federal district court for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots based on a case filed by a Sikh outfit.
Canada is not reaching out to India to the extent it could have, said Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath.
The truckers organisation, All India Motor Transport Congress has demanded lower toll tax or nearly 62 lakh (6.2 million) trucks would go off roads from August 6, bringing movement of goods throughout the country to a halt.
The much-hyped target set by Union road transport and highways Minister Kamal Nath, to build 20 kilometres of roads every day, might be revised to a more achievable target, informed sources say. Sources close to the development say there is talk within the ministry of a more feasible target. "The target of 20 kilometres per day is not sacrosanct. That is what the minister wanted to achieve.
Seeking a high-level probe either by the CBI or a parliamentary panel into the toll collection policy, AIMTC alleged that 'arbitrary' revision in toll rates in 2008 has resulted in truckers paying a hefty Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) a day as toll tax.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Transport Kamal Nath on Tuesday claimed that the Congress would form the government in Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra.
The demand environment is expected to improve over the next three quarters, aided by a recovery in demand from the construction sector, following release of payments to contractors after elections.
Kurnool city, which has been completely submerged by the floods and backwaters of Srisailam reservoir, has been cut off from the outside world with the road and the rail links being severed by the floods.
Despite claims of an 'austerity drive' by the United Progressive Alliance government and the Congress party, some Union ministers appeared to prefer upmarket accommodation during their official visits to the United States.
The move comes in the wake of India raising cap on foreign institutional investors investment by $5 billion in government and corporate bonds each.
The group, which held its first meeting in London on Monday will focus mainly on the construction of major highways and district-level roads. It will comprise major road building contractors from the UK and India.
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority will consider a proposal to manage the pension funds of companies at its board meeting on Wednesday, extending its role from being manager of individual pension plans.
"We are building 20 km roads a day. But is this enough?"
Aiming for a 9 per cent GDP growth by 2011, India attaches the 'highest priority' to build good road infrastructure across the country to achieve the target, Union Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath has said.
The Planning Commission on Monday lowered the target for construction of roads under the NHDP scheme to 2,500 km for the current fiscal from 3,165 km in the previous year, which was not met by the road ministry.
