The following is a status report of the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) being implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). This information was provided by the Minister of State for Highways, Major General (Retd) B C Khanduri.

• The four-laning of the 5,952 km Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) connecting Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai would be completed by December 2003. Around 802 km of the GQ have already been four-laned and another 2,433 km are under implementation. Contracts for the remaining stretches would be awarded by July 2001.

• The East-West corridor (between Silchar in Assam and Porbandar in Gujarat) and North-South corridors (between Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu) would be completed by December 2007. Of the 7,300 km E-W and N-S corridors, 658 km have already been four-laned and work on another 338 km is under progress. Project preparation is underway for another 403 km.

Of the total cost of Rs.58,000 crore of the NHDP, the Central Road Fund is expected to contribute Rs.20,000 crore,  while NHAI is likely to raise Rs.10,000 crore by way of bonds. The remaining funds would come through private sector participation.

Meanwhile, the government has introduced a bonus and penalty clause in contracts to ensure expeditious implementation of the NHDP. Accordingly, contractors would be given a bonus of one per cent of the project cost for every month of early completion. For delayed completion, a penalty of 1.5 per cent would be imposed for every month of delay.