Nowhere are the stories of the coming election better told than on the roads of Bihar.
MCA is a legal contract, which prescribes the terms and conditions for executing a road project.
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.
A 25 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in budget allocation towards the roads sector for FY24 has led to renewed interest among investors. However, a combination of escalating costs for Bharatmala and unseasonal rains to some extent have impacted progress. Bharatmala's cost has nearly doubled from Rs 5.35 trillion to Rs 10.6 trillion and the finance ministry has asked MoRTH to go slow until Cabinet approval is received.
Dr Dar and six labourers were killed when terrorists struck a tunnel construction site on the Srinagar-Leh national highway in Ganderbal on Sunday evening.
India needs to be technologically and militarily prepared to defend itself from both Pakistan and China, alerts Ramesh Menon.
The Delhi police had on Saturday increased security arrangements by deploying additional personnel and placing more concrete barriers.
The Maharashtra cabinet has approved the mandatory use of FASTag for toll collection across the state from April 1. This move is expected to streamline administrative processes, enhance transparency, and reduce congestion at toll plazas. The cabinet also approved revisions to the Rules of Business, streamlining administrative functioning and making it more efficient. The revisions include provisions related to matters to be presented before the cabinet, cases requiring approval from the Chief Minister or Governor, and procedures for meetings of the cabinet and council of ministers.
Though some operators offer the facility of tag lanes, such tags can only be used at designated points.
Bommai rejected all the key infrastructure related proposals of Kerala, saying it will damage the eco-sensitive zones and wildlife sanctuaries.
Road construction witnessed a near 60 per cent year-on-year jump in the first two months of financial year 2021-22 (FY22), despite restrictions being imposed in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19. Around 1,470 km of roads were constructed during the first two months of the current fiscal, as against 847 km in the corresponding period last year, according to official figures. However, these are provisional numbers as the state public works departments of Maharashtra and Goa are yet to provide data.
The move comes in the wake of India raising cap on foreign institutional investors investment by $5 billion in government and corporate bonds each.
With a large number of Indian youth aspiring to work in the railways, delays in filling up railway job vacancies were a point of criticism against the BJP in the run-up to the elections.
The projects are to be given out on design, build operate, finance and transfer basis and are part of third phase of the National Highways Development Project, the government's programme to develop road infrastructure across the country.
In what could be a shot in the arm for the National Highway Development Programme, the National Highway Authority of India is all set to receive a windfall of Rs 471 crore
The strategic 900-km-long Chardham project worth Rs 12,000 crore aims to provide all-weather connectivity to four holy towns -- Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath -- in Uttarakhand.
Modi was born on September 17, 1950 in a small town in Gujarat.
Speaking during the Question Hour, the road transport and highways minister said the country has set several world records in road construction despite COVID-19. The construction of Zoji La tunnel on the Srinagar-Leh highway will be completed before 2024, while another Z-Morh tunnel will be completed in the next three months, he added.
Torrential rains pounded the tiny Himalayan state of Sikkim and the tea growing region of North Bengal, causing landslides that cut off National Highway-10, the main road linking Gangtok with the rest of the country.
At the heart of his criticism is the delay in decision making and a lack of monitoring. Some officials, however, blamed the delays on overambitious contractors.
With India joining the project, it would be called TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline.
State governments are gradually taking initiative as far as developing highways is concerned.
'What the Americans want is to destabilise Iran. For destabilising Iran, you need access. 'One access is through Iraq. The other access is through Pakistan.'
The year also saw the government allowing company bidding for a road project to hold up to 25 per cent stake in a firm bidding for another project from 5 per cent earlier.
33 per cent of all road accidents and 35 per cent of fatal accidents took place on national highways and expressways.
They said the incident occurred around 4 am when a 150-metre-long portion of the four-and-a-half-kilometer-long tunnel collapsed.
Gadkari is credited with the construction of more than 90,000 km of national highways and 30,000 km of new roads in the country in the last 10 years.
"Based on this consensus, the process of disengagement is almost complete. Our efforts will be to take the matter beyond disengagement; but for that, we will have to wait a little longer," he added.
The Union finance ministry has endorsed the views of Gajendra Haldea, infrastructure advisor to the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, who had objected to recent changes in bidding norms by the National Highways Authority of India.
The statement by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) comes in the backdrop of collapse of under-construction Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarkashi on November 12.
The NHAI board is considering a proposal to give 40 per cent of the annuity payment to the contractors upfront and the remaining amount later in instalments.
