Bommai rejected all the key infrastructure related proposals of Kerala, saying it will damage the eco-sensitive zones and wildlife sanctuaries.
The Plan panel is against an NHAI proposal to increase the cost allocation of building each four-lane highway by 33 per cent.
The government began the selection process a year earlier and has twice gone through the process of short-listing candidates.
Inadequate funding and non-viability of some projects have forced several leading infrastructure development firms to stay out of bidding for over 13 highway projects worth over Rs 12,500 crore (Rs 125 billion).
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.
"I am shocked why it was not followed. This is even there in the manual of the Indian Road Congress. Had that been followed then there would have been no casualties. There have been gross violations," Maitra said.
To centralise process by setting up special units in each state.
Currently, roads are only entrusted with the authority which licences them to private developers who cannot provide such roads as security to avail loans from banks and other other institutions. Once the roads are vested with the NHAI, the authority can lease them to the developer who can securitise the property to raise money.
An interesting excerpt from Virender Kapoor's latest book Inspiring India: Taking India from Big to Great.
'Pakistan has made a business out of faith. How will a poor devotee pay this amount?'
IHMCL implemented the FASTag electronic tolling of national highways, but due to technical glitches, road ministry is mulling the option of offering this job to a Korean company
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been under attack for delays in completion of its road projects as well as for poor corridor management.
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.
The 100-km stretch of Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway claimed at least 62 lives.
Taxpayers need not invest proceeds from sale of property strictly within 180 days from date of sale to get exemption under Section 54EC.
National Highways Authority of India is working on a proposal to scrap the 30 to 35 per cent premium on toll charged on highways that bypass cities.
Geo-fencing to map vehicle route; pilot run expected on Delhi-Mumbai highway
The company, which is bidding for 16 road projects worth Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) this year from the National Highways Authority of India under the public-private-partnership model, intends to invest the money in the form of equity to set up special purpose vehicles to execute new road projects.
NHAI had earlier planned to go for private placement in order to raise funds faster but later decided to go in for the public issue due to the prevailing interest rate scenario.
The prime minister's committee on infrastructure has finalised a proposal for restructuring the National Highway Authority of India.
While there was a brief respite from the incessant downpour on Tuesday, collaborative efforts from the defence, national, and state disaster response forces took the lead in executing rescue and relief operations.
The B K Chaturvedi committee set up to recommend ways to implement road projects faster and more efficiently, has recommended that the National Highways Authority of India be given sovereign guarantees on the loans it raises from the market.
Highways regulator the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has exceeded its toll revenue target in the fiscal 2008-09, collecting taxes to the tune of Rs 1,702 crore (Rs 17.02 billion).
The NHAI project director and a retired army brigadier, who was running a consultancy service for NHAI, had been named by murdered NHAI engineer Satyendra Dubey in a letter alleging large-scale bungling in highway construction projects.
"We have conveyed this to the road transport ministry. We go for environment approval for all land we acquire, but land with environment issues requires more approvals," said a senior NHAI official, who did not want to be identified.
When I asked Krishna Gopal Sengupta, who had travelled through Bangladesh from Chittagong to Petrapole if the interim government had made any impact at ground level, he said, "it's been only a couple of days. They will need some time." Shyam G Menon reports from Petrapole, India's entry point with Bangladesh.
Kashmir remained cut-off from the rest of the country for the second day on Thursday with road and air links to the Valley snapped due to snowfall, the heaviest in a decade in the month of January.
The abduction of a 50-year-old engineer in Kokrajhar district, western Assam, by suspected militants belonging to the anti-peace talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland has left the East-West Corridor project of the National Highway Authority of India in lurch.
Expressway construction is part of the sixth phase of the National Highways Development Programme.
The most pernicious abuse of the toll system is the VIP syndrome. Most toll plazas carry a long list of VIP vehicles that are exempt from payment and others have to compensate for them.
Capital expenditure (capex) by 54 large central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and five departmental arms with an annual capex target of Rs 100 crore and above has reached around 42.5 per cent of their annual target of about Rs 7.33 trillion in this financial year so far, a senior official from the Ministry of Finance told Business Standard. "The Centre is pushing the big public undertakings in the infrastructure and refinery sector to achieve 90 per cent of their target by the end of the third quarter," he said. The capex by this group of CPSEs stands at around Rs 3.1 trillion in the April-August period so far.
It seeks an inquiry commission to probe who leaked the name of the NHAI official, which seemingly led to his murder.
IRFC, NHAI, Hudco and others to hit the market in next few months.
Senior finance ministry official said the economic affairs department cleared the proposals on Friday.
'The prime minister took a meeting recently and he asked for suggestions and ideas for a plan till 2047.'
The road transport ministry has asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to ascertain the findings of a report by the World Bank's Institutional Integrity Unit. According to the report, contractors paid bribes and gifts to influence the actions of NHAI officials and consultants.
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