National Highways Authority of India has made average progress as far as actual completion of projects under the National Highways Development Programme is concerned, according to a special study done by ProjectsToday based on official statistics released NHAI.

During the twelve-month period ending 30 June 2006, NHAI added a total of 650 km of national highways across its project segments -- Golden Quadrilateral, North-South East-West Corridor and Phase-III A. This translates to an average addition of only 1.8 km per calendar day during the period.

Out of the 650 km of highways constructed, 497 km (or 76 per cent) belonged to the Golden Quadrilateral project that aims at connecting the four metros -- Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai -- through a highway network spanning 5,846 km. As of 30 June 2006, the GQ segment stood 92.5 per cent complete, as against the corresponding 84 per cent as of 30 June 2005. The Union government has targeted achieve a completion rate of 95.6 per cent (or 5,360 km) by 31 December 2006. The government apprehends that 238 km of stretches will remain unfinished at least up to 31 December 2006. Incidentally, over 50 per cent (or 120 km) of these stretches, envisaged to remain incomplete, lie on the 1,453-km Delhi-Kolkata arm of the GQ. The original target completion date for GQ was December 2003.

The rate of completion on the North-South East-West corridor (Phase II of the NHDP) has been quite poor during the 12-month period ending June 2006. NHAI added only 123 km of highways under this project segment, accounting for 19 per cent of the total addition in the period. However, NHAI appears to have done well in terms of awarding contracts. As of 30 June 2006, the total number of contracts awarded under NHDP-II stood at 137 for a total length of 5,063 km. As of June 2005, the total number of contracts awarded under NHDP-II stood at a much smaller 26 for a total length of 2,459 km. The target completion timeframe for NHDP-II is end-2010.

It may be noted here that awarding of contract does not necessarily mean commencement of work. NHAI's official statistics do not reveal statistics on the current status of contract awarded. NHAI treats award of contract as a project under implementation. It is common knowledge that land acquisition is the biggest hurdle for national highway projects and that contracts are technically "under implementation" with little or no groundwork. In a press report of February 2006, it was estimated that the NHAI had acquired only 15 per cent (or 2,369 ha) of land out of the total requirement of 15,892 ha for NHDP-Phase II. Land acquisition, according to this reportage, was very poor in all the four southern states of India.

Returning to NHAI's performance during the year ending June 2006, a notable feature was the completion of the first segment of Phase III in August 2005.  Phase III involves the four-laning of 10,000 km of national highways not covered in the earlier two phases. Phase III-A, involving some 4,000 km, would be taken up first. As of 30 June 2006, NHAI had completed an insignificant portion (30 km) of Phase III-A but 17 contracts were under implementation together covering 1,090 km.

The overall completion rate of NHDP (Phases I, II and III-A) was 36.5 per cent as of 30 June 2006. As of same date, 38.4 per cent was under implementation while 24.4 per cent was pending.

Very recently, NHAI made another achievement by awarding the first contract under NHDP-Phase V. Under this phase, NHAI would be six-laning around 6,500 km of national highways including portions of the already four-laned Golden Quadrilateral. The total cost of NHDP-V is an estimated Rs.41,210 crore. The first contract was awarded to a IDAA Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (a consortium of four companies including Mumbai-based Ideal Road Builders) for the 65-km Bharuch-Surat section on NH-8 in Gujarat, on BOT basis. This project, very importantly, involved a negative grant of Rs.504 crore that was the highest ever received by NHAI.