india

Updated: Jan 05, 2019 22:56 IST

Land acquisition remains a major challenge in building transport infrastructure, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) has told the Fifteenth Finance Commission(XVFC) in a review meeting.

Key impediments include the high cost of land and the lengthy process of land acquisition, the ministry said in a presentation to the Commission at the meeting held by MoRTH and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari and XVFC chairman NK Singh on Wednesday. “Land acquisition costs increased from ₹0.80 crore per hectare (2012-13) to ₹3.08 crore/hectare. Land acquisition expenses in 2017-18 were ₹29,200 crore for 9,494 hectare,” the ministry said in the presentation, a copy of which was has been reviewed by Hindustan Times.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Commission said it will prepare recommendations for the transport sector on the basis of the discussions it had with Gadkari and his senior colleagues. The transport ministry said in its presentation that fund allocation for road projects had increased from ₹38,009 crore in 2014-15 to ₹140,626 crore in April-November 2018. The ministry’s expenditure on road projects increased from ₹32,682 crore in 2014-15 to ₹78,899 crore in April-November 2018.

The ministry said in its presentation that the so-called Grand Challenge Mechanism followed for the Bharatmala Pariyojana, will also be made applicable to all national highway projects in a prioritised manner if state governments commit to bear at least 25% of the land acquisition cost. The ministry stated that under the Bharatmala Pariyojana scheme, 66,100km of road development is envisaged at a total cost of ₹6.92 lakh crore.

The ministry’s presentation said the sources of funding for the mammoth infrastructure project would include the Central Road Fund, gross budgetary support, expected monetisation of National Highways through TOT (toll-operate-transfer) auctioning, Toll-Permanent Bridge Fee Fund, market borrowings and private investment.