The Ministry of Road Transport and Highway said in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, 13 national highway projects worth Rs 7,298.3 crore and 19 state road projects worth Rs 893.18 crore, sanctioned under Left Wing Extremism project, were delayed.
In reply to a query on the delayed/abandoned road projects in Chhattisgarh, it said, "Primarily, these projects are delayed due to delay in acquisition of land, forest clearances, shifting of utilities, non-availability of security forces in Maoist-affected areas and poor planning and mobilisation of resources by the contractors."
The Ministry said delays and lapses had been observed from different agencies, like the Revenue Department in land acquisition, the Forest Department in green clearances, utilities owning departments, such as the Electrical Department in timely shifting of power lines and transformers and Jal Sansthan in shifting of water pipeline.
The Ministry was monitoring and reviewing such cases. "Respective state governments are consistently requested to take adequate measures to expedite clearances for timely completion of projects," the Ministry said.
The Rs 572.66 crore upgradation of the 53.25 km Kanker-Bedma section of NH 43 is delayed due to poor planning, fund mobilisation and lack of resources by contractor.
The Rs 496.02 crore upgradation of the 81 km Raigarh-Saraipalli section of the NH 216 to two lanes with paved shoulders is delayed due to fund mobilisation and lack of resources by contractor.
It said the Rs 291.05 crore upgradation of the 50 km Chilpi-Kawardha section of the NH 12A, also known as new NH 30, to two lanes worth was delayed due to land acquisition, forest clearance and poor planning.
The Rs 335.32 crore upgradation of the 52.40 km Shivnagar-Ambikapur section of NH 111, the Rs 543.73 crore project on the 55.64 km NH 200 from Banari to Masaniyakala, the Rs 606.02 crore upgradation of the 60.45 km NH 200 from Masaniyakala to the Odisha border, the Rs 624.98 crore upgradation of 95.79 km NH 78 from Ambikapur Bypass to Patthalgaon Bypass, and the Rs 452.94 crore 60.4 km project on NH 78 from Patthalgaon to Kunkuri were delayed due to land acquisition.
The construction of Rs 14.13 crore HL bridges on NH 343 on the Ambikapur-Ramanujganj-Garwa section had been delayed due to forest clearance.
The Ministry said Rs 766.74 crore four-six laning of the 48.58 km Raipur-Simga road project, four-laning of 42.45 km Simga-Sargaon section at the cost of Rs 639.64 crore, four laning of the 33.20 km Raipur-Kodebod segment worth Rs 987.88 crore, and four laning of the 38.81 km Kodebod-Dhamtari section at Rs 967.19 crore were delayed due to land acquisition and security issues.
The Ministry said 718.2 km of roads under the Left Wing Extremism Projects through state Public Works Department were delayed due to security, land acquisition and forest clearances.
The construction of two-lane bridges, including approaches on the Chintavagu river, on the Tarud river and a drain on the Bhopalpatnam-Warangal-Hyderabad road in Chhattisgarh had been delayed due to security threats from Maoists.
( With inputs from IANS )